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 910

District of Grey Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Benjamin Hape

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

27 January 1912

William Cannington Armstrong
Margaret Steel

William Carrington Armstrong
Margaret Steel
💍 1912/726

Widower
Widow

Miner

43
47

Greymouth
Greymouth

6 years
6 years

The Office of the Registrar, Greymouth

12/300

27 January 1912

The Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

No	7
Date of Notice	27 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cannington Armstrong	Margaret Steel
BDM Match (96%)	William Carrington Armstrong	Margaret Steel
	💍 1912/726
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Miner
Age	43	47
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar, Greymouth
Folio	12/300
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1912
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

29 January 1912

William Brown
Mary Elizabeth Donlevy

William Brown
Mary Blyth
💍 1912/734

William Nimmo Brown
Mary Elizabeth Coldicutt
💍 1912/9444

William Brown
Mary Jane McLachlan
💍 1912/1264

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

33
24

Greymouth
Greymouth

7 years
4 days

The Office of the Registrar, Greymouth

12/301

29 January 1912

The Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

No	8
Date of Notice	29 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brown	Mary Elizabeth Donlevy
BDM Match (68%)	William Brown	Mary Blyth
	💍 1912/734
BDM Match (68%)	William Nimmo Brown	Mary Elizabeth Coldicutt
	💍 1912/9444
BDM Match (66%)	William Brown	Mary Jane McLachlan
	💍 1912/1264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	7 years	4 days
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar, Greymouth
Folio	12/301
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1912
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages at Greymouth

1 February 1912

William John Thompson
Hannah Woollett

William John Thompson
Hannah Woollett
💍 1912/1478

Bachelor
Spinster

Oilborer

24
21

Hokitika
Moana

4 years
1 year

St. Thomas' (Anglican) Church, Runanga

12/1159

1 February 1912

Rev. Tom F. Taylor, Runanga

No	9
Date of Notice	1 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Thompson	Hannah Woollett
	💍 1912/1478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Oilborer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Moana
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' (Anglican) Church, Runanga
Folio	12/1159
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Tom F. Taylor, Runanga

10 February 1912

John Callinan
Margaret Agnes Horan

John Callinan
Margaret Agnes Horan
💍 1912/1463

Bachelor
Spinster

Bridgeman

27
21

Greymouth
Coal Creek

10 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth

12/1168

10 February 1912

Dean D. P. Carew, Greymouth

No	10
Date of Notice	10 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Callinan	Margaret Agnes Horan
	💍 1912/1463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bridgeman
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Coal Creek
Length of Residence	10 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Greymouth
Folio	12/1168
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Dean D. P. Carew, Greymouth

6 March 1912

William Thomas Trave
Eliza Jane Ferguson

William Thomas Trane
Eliza Jane Vergurson
💍 1912/1461

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Seamstress

25
21

Christchurch
Greymouth

3 days
38 days

St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth

12/1166

6 March 1912

Rev. Harry Ranston

No	11
Date of Notice	6 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Trave	Eliza Jane Ferguson
BDM Match (93%)	William Thomas Trane	Eliza Jane Vergurson
	💍 1912/1461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Seamstress
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	38 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth
Folio	12/1166
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Harry Ranston

21 March 1912

Robert James Armstrong
Florence May Ward

Robert James Armstrong
Florence May Ward
💍 1912/1460

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
19

Dunollie
Dunollie

7 years
4 years

St. Thomas' Church, Runanga

12/1165

William Ward, father

21 March 1912

Rev. J. F. Taylor, Runanga

No	12
Date of Notice	21 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Armstrong	Florence May Ward
	💍 1912/1460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Dunollie	Dunollie
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Runanga
Folio	12/1165
Consent	William Ward, father
Date of Certificate	21 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Taylor, Runanga

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).