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 682

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

924

20 November 1912

Charles Moore Bowden
Agnes Eliza Deumba Gray

Charles Moore Bowden
Agnes Eliza Denmba Cray
💍 1912/8353

Bachelor
Spinster

accountant

25
28

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
4 years

Baptist Church Vivian Street Wellington

12/7362

20 November 1912

Rev. J. J. North

No	924
Date of Notice	20 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Moore Bowden	Agnes Eliza Deumba Gray
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Moore Bowden	Agnes Eliza Denmba Cray
	💍 1912/8353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	accountant
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Vivian Street Wellington
Folio	12/7362
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North

925

21 November 1912

William Michael Nidd
Mary Latto

William Michael Nidd
Mary Latto
💍 1912/8276

Widower
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

38
26

Wellington
Island Bay

38 years
5 years

St. Annes Church

12/7235

21 November 1912

Rev. W. Peoples

No	925
Date of Notice	21 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Michael Nidd	Mary Latto
	💍 1912/8276
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Island Bay
Length of Residence	38 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Annes Church
Folio	12/7235
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Peoples

926

21 November 1912

James Ashford Goddard
Annie Symons

James Ashford Goddard
Annie Symons
💍 1912/8590

Bachelor
Spinster

Lighthouse Keeper

31
31

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
11 days

Residence of Mr. C. Adams 11 Ebor Street Wellington

12/7400

21 November 1912

Rev. E. O. Blamires

No	926
Date of Notice	21 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ashford Goddard	Annie Symons
	💍 1912/8590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lighthouse Keeper
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	11 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. Adams 11 Ebor Street Wellington
Folio	12/7400
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. O. Blamires

927

21 November 1912

Charles Thomas Phare
Agnes Stark Kyle

Charles Thomas Phare
Agnes Stark Kyle
💍 1912/8333

Bachelor
Spinster

cabinetmaker

28
20

Petone
Petone

7.5 years
3.5 years

Wesley Church

12/7342

James Kyle Father

21 November 1912

Rev. J. J. Lewis

No	927
Date of Notice	21 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thomas Phare	Agnes Stark Kyle
	💍 1912/8333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	cabinetmaker
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	7.5 years	3.5 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church
Folio	12/7342
Consent	James Kyle Father
Date of Certificate	21 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lewis

928

21 November 1912

Reginald Healy
Christine Dudu Henrys

Reginald Healy
Christine Duder Henrys
💍 1912/8285

Bachelor
Spinster

clerk

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
18 years

Sacred Heart Basilica Hill Street Wellington

12/7244

See attached

21 November 1912

Rev. J. P. Hickson

No	928
Date of Notice	21 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Healy	Christine Dudu Henrys
BDM Match (95%)	Reginald Healy	Christine Duder Henrys
	💍 1912/8285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	clerk
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica Hill Street Wellington
Folio	12/7244
Consent	See attached
Date of Certificate	21 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Hickson

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).