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 657

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

799

5 October 1912

Henry Ronald Burden
Ivy Marguerite Brown

Henry Ronald Burden
Ivy Marguerite Brown
💍 1912/8371

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

23
19

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
4 days

Wesleyan Parsonage, Taranaki Street, Wellington

12/7356

Annie Brown, Mother

5 October 1912

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	799
Date of Notice	5 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ronald Burden	Ivy Marguerite Brown
	💍 1912/8371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Parsonage, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	12/7356
Consent	Annie Brown, Mother
Date of Certificate	5 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

800

7 October 1912

Percy Herbert Fancourt
Edith West

Percy Herbert Fancourt
Edith West
💍 1912/5105

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter

28
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

12/6591

7 October 1912

Registrar

No	800
Date of Notice	7 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Herbert Fancourt	Edith West
	💍 1912/5105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	12/6591
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Registrar

801

7 October 1912

Charles Samuel Flanagan
Nellie May Smith

Charles Samuel Flanagin
Nellie May Smith
💍 1912/7019

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman

28
23

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
24 years

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

12/7284

7 October 1912

Rev. G. F. Askew

No	801
Date of Notice	7 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Samuel Flanagan	Nellie May Smith
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Samuel Flanagin	Nellie May Smith
	💍 1912/7019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	12/7284
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Askew

802

7 October 1912

Lewis Oakden
Elizabeth Fearn

Lewis Oakden
Elizabeth Fearn
💍 1912/8369

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
4 days

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

12/7354

7 October 1912

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	802
Date of Notice	7 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Oakden	Elizabeth Fearn
	💍 1912/8369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	12/7354
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

803

7 October 1912

Richard Henry Gerard
Eva May Simmons

Richard Henry Gerard
Eva May Simmons
💍 1912/8370

Widower 1/5/1907
Widow 27/9/1905

Marine Fireman

30
28

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
Life

Residence of Mr. W. Tyman, 127 Tory Street, Wellington

12/7355

7 October 1912

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	803
Date of Notice	7 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Gerard	Eva May Simmons
	💍 1912/8370
Condition	Widower 1/5/1907	Widow 27/9/1905
Profession	Marine Fireman
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Tyman, 127 Tory Street, Wellington
Folio	12/7355
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

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).