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 687

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1912 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodgkins

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

944

25 November 1912

Francis William Pointon
Ellen Millar

Francis William Pointon
Ellen Millar
💍 1912/7026

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Accountant

22
22

Masterton
Miramar

15 months
2 years

Anglican Church

12/7441

25 November 1912

Rev. H.G. Blackburne

No	944
Date of Notice	25 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Pointon	Ellen Millar
	💍 1912/7026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Accountant
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Miramar
Length of Residence	15 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	12/7441
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.G. Blackburne

945

26 November 1912

William Tail Chalmers
Olive Georgia Sarah Zilwood

William Tait Chalmers
Olive Georgia Sarah Zillwood
💍 1912/8399

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright

42
28

Hutt
Hutt

3 days
3 days

Methodist Church, Hutt

12/7409

26 November 1912

Rev. B.H. Ginger

No	945
Date of Notice	26 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Tail Chalmers	Olive Georgia Sarah Zilwood
BDM Match (96%)	William Tait Chalmers	Olive Georgia Sarah Zillwood
	💍 1912/8399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright
Age	42	28
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hutt
Folio	12/7409
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. B.H. Ginger

946

26 November 1912

John Hopwell
Elizabeth Harriet Donnelly

John Hopwell
Elizabeth Harriet Donnelly
💍 1912/6952

Widower
Married 16 July 1877 not heard of husband for 9 years

Engineer

66
42

Wellington
Petone

30 years
3 years

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

12/7266

26 November 1912

Arch. C.C. Harper

No	946
Date of Notice	26 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hopwell	Elizabeth Harriet Donnelly
	💍 1912/6952
Condition	Widower	Married 16 July 1877 not heard of husband for 9 years
Profession	Engineer
Age	66	42
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	30 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	12/7266
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Arch. C.C. Harper

947

26 November 1912

Walter Athelstone Hugh Crichton
Elizabeth Walker Fryer

Walter Athelstone Hugh Crichton
Elizabeth Walker Fryer
💍 1912/8320

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

26
20

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
4 days

St. James Church, Wellington

12/7303

Henry Fryer, Father

26 November 1912

Rev. W Shirer

No	947
Date of Notice	26 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Athelstone Hugh Crichton	Elizabeth Walker Fryer
	💍 1912/8320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	4 days
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Wellington
Folio	12/7303
Consent	Henry Fryer, Father
Date of Certificate	26 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W Shirer

948

26 November 1912

Harold Ellis Wilkinson
Ethel Eage

Harold Ellis Wilkinson
Ethel Edge
💍 1912/7224

Bachelor
Spinster

Motorman

22
25

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs Morrison, 15 Horoeka Bay, Wellington

12/7718

26 November 1912

Rev. C.H. Standage

No	948
Date of Notice	26 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Ellis Wilkinson	Ethel Eage
BDM Match (95%)	Harold Ellis Wilkinson	Ethel Edge
	💍 1912/7224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motorman
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Morrison, 15 Horoeka Bay, Wellington
Folio	12/7718
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.H. Standage

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

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).