Intentions to Marry, 1912 Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840449, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 583

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1912 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodghins

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

445

29 May 1912

Peter Carroll Connell
Lilian Crichton

Peter Carrol Connell
Lilian Crichton
💍 1912/5649

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

31
27

Maranui
Kelburne

3 years
5 years

Terrace Congregational Church Wellington

12/2588

29 May 1912

Rev. J. Reed Glasson

No	445
Date of Notice	29 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Carroll Connell	Lilian Crichton
BDM Match (98%)	Peter Carrol Connell	Lilian Crichton
	💍 1912/5649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Maranui	Kelburne
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Terrace Congregational Church Wellington
Folio	12/2588
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Reed Glasson

446

29 May 1912

James McParland
Delia Slattery

James McParland
Delia Slaltery
💍 1912/2637

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

32
31

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
13 years

St Josephs Catholic Church Buckle Street Wellington

12/2108

29 May 1912

Rev. T. O'Shea

No	446
Date of Notice	29 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McParland	Delia Slattery
BDM Match (96%)	James McParland	Delia Slaltery
	💍 1912/2637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St Josephs Catholic Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	12/2108
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. O'Shea

447

29 May 1912

Gilbert Harper Mouat
Margaret Harper Gray

Gilbert Harper Mouat
Margaret Harper Gray
💍 1912/4212

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

29
22

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
Life

Congregational Church Courtenay Place Wellington

12/4054

29 May 1912

Rev Macdonald Aspland

No	447
Date of Notice	29 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Harper Mouat	Margaret Harper Gray
	💍 1912/4212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Courtenay Place Wellington
Folio	12/4054
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev Macdonald Aspland

448

30 May 1912

Francis Geare
Hilda May Rossiter

Francis Hare
Hilda May Rossiter
💍 1912/2653

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

28
18

Wellington
Wellington

20 months
5 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

12/2472

Edward Rossiter Father

30 May 1912

Rev. H. Beggs

No	448
Date of Notice	30 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Geare	Hilda May Rossiter
BDM Match (92%)	Francis Hare	Hilda May Rossiter
	💍 1912/2653
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	12/2472
Consent	Edward Rossiter Father
Date of Certificate	30 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

449

30 May 1912

Robert Hunt
Mary Josephine Butler

Robert Hunt
Mary Josephine Butler
💍 1912/2127

Widower
Spinster

Hotelkeeper (Retired)

51
38

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
5 days

Registrars Office Wellington

12/1816

30 May 1912

G. G. Hodgkins Registrar

No	449
Date of Notice	30 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hunt	Mary Josephine Butler
	💍 1912/2127
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper (Retired)
Age	51	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	12/1816
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1912
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).