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 617

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

607

26 July 1912

Edward William Adams
Rosina Vincent

Edward William Adams
Rosina Vincent
💍 1912/5700

Bachelor
Spinster

Gasman in Railways

24
25

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
3 years

Residence of Rev. G. O. Blamires (21) 11 Hankey Street Wellington

12/4827

26 July 1912

Rev. G. O. Blamires

No	607
Date of Notice	26 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Adams	Rosina Vincent
	💍 1912/5700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gasman in Railways
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. O. Blamires (21) 11 Hankey Street Wellington
Folio	12/4827
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. O. Blamires

608

26 July 1912

John Bertram Parks
Elsie Maud Everett Haslock

John Bertram Parks
Elsie Maud Everett Hasloch
💍 1912/4934

Bachelor
Spinster

Military Instructor

27
24

Wellington
Petone

3 months
12 months

St. Augustine's Church Petone

12/4809

26 July 1912

Rev. S. B. Stephenson

No	608
Date of Notice	26 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bertram Parks	Elsie Maud Everett Haslock
BDM Match (98%)	John Bertram Parks	Elsie Maud Everett Hasloch
	💍 1912/4934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Military Instructor
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	3 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Petone
Folio	12/4809
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. B. Stephenson

609

27 July 1912

Henry Benjamin Hobman
Catherine Christina Richmond

Henry Benjamin Hobman
Catherine Christina Richmond
💍 1912/5689

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
21

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
3 years

Residence of Mrs. Hawke 69 Hansen Street Wellington

12/4826

27 July 1912

Rev. G. O. Blamires

No	609
Date of Notice	27 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Benjamin Hobman	Catherine Christina Richmond
	💍 1912/5689
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Hawke 69 Hansen Street Wellington
Folio	12/4826
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. O. Blamires

610

29 July 1912

Nigel Bruce
Evelyn Lea

Nigel Bruce
Evelyn Lea
💍 1912/4967

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Mechanic

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
3 days

St. John's Manse The Terrace Wellington

12/4693

29 July 1912

Rev. J. Gibb

No	610
Date of Notice	29 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nigel Bruce	Evelyn Lea
	💍 1912/4967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Mechanic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Manse The Terrace Wellington
Folio	12/4693
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

611

29 July 1912

Victor McLeod Ross
Esther Persen

Victor McLeod Ross
Esther Persen
💍 1912/6192

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

30
31

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
4 days

St. Andrew's Manse 84 Hill Street Wellington

12/5632

29 July 1912

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	611
Date of Notice	29 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor McLeod Ross	Esther Persen
	💍 1912/6192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse 84 Hill Street Wellington
Folio	12/5632
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

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).