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 622

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

632

5 August 1912

Tom Woodman Pattinson
Catherine McMillan

Tom Wordman Pattinson
Catherine McMillan
💍 1912/4969

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman

25
26

Wellington
Wellington

17 months
5 months

St. John's Manse, The Terrace

12/4695

5 August 1912

Rev. J. Gibb

No	632
Date of Notice	5 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Woodman Pattinson	Catherine McMillan
BDM Match (98%)	Tom Wordman Pattinson	Catherine McMillan
	💍 1912/4969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 months	5 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Manse, The Terrace
Folio	12/4695
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

633

5 August 1912

Alfred Doughty Rockcliffe Baker
Gertrude Ethel Florence Longhurst

Alfred Doughty Rockcliffe Baker Amies
Gertrude Ethel Florence Longhurst
💍 1912/4850

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Keeper & Packer

25
22

Kaiwarra
Wellington

Life
Life

Church of England, Kelburne, Wellington

12/4749

5 August 1912

Rev. A.W.H. Compton

No	633
Date of Notice	5 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Doughty Rockcliffe Baker	Gertrude Ethel Florence Longhurst
BDM Match (92%)	Alfred Doughty Rockcliffe Baker Amies	Gertrude Ethel Florence Longhurst
	💍 1912/4850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Keeper & Packer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Kaiwarra	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kelburne, Wellington
Folio	12/4749
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.W.H. Compton

634

5 August 1912

David Ogilvy Ballantyne
Agnes Jane Shearer

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Factory Manager

28
24

Wellington
Karori

3 days
15 years

Residence of Mr. W. Shearer, Main Road, Karori

12/5633

5 August 1912

Rev. J.G. Smith

No	634
Date of Notice	5 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Ogilvy Ballantyne	Agnes Jane Shearer
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Factory Manager
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Shearer, Main Road, Karori
Folio	12/5633
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.G. Smith

635

6 August 1912

Roland Yorke Boyes
Ruby Flora Adelaide Willson

Roland Yorke Boyes
Ruby Flora Adelaide Willson
💍 1912/4860

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Operator

29
27

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
7 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

12/4751

6 August 1912

Rev. J.S. Bartlett

No	635
Date of Notice	6 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Yorke Boyes	Ruby Flora Adelaide Willson
	💍 1912/4860
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Operator
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	12/4751
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.S. Bartlett

636

6 August 1912

Frederick Broomfield Cole
Ellen Doreas Cole

Frederick Broomfield
Ellen Dorcas Cole
💍 1912/6295

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
18

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
18 years

Residence of Mr. M. Cole, Lloyd Street, Wellington

12/5759

Morish Cole, Father

6 August 1912

Rev. P.J. Bossum

No	636
Date of Notice	6 August 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Broomfield Cole	Ellen Doreas Cole
BDM Match (87%)	Frederick Broomfield	Ellen Dorcas Cole
	💍 1912/6295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. M. Cole, Lloyd Street, Wellington
Folio	12/5759
Consent	Morish Cole, Father
Date of Certificate	6 August 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.J. Bossum

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).