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 604

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

542

3 July 1912

James Francis Lynch
Norah Irene Elizabeth Rooney

James Francis Lynch
Norah Irene Elizabeth Rooney
💍 1912/4914

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

26
19

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
19 years

St. Ann's Church, Green St, Wellington

12/4813

Michael Rooney, Father

3 July 1912

Rev. M. J. Peoples

No	542
Date of Notice	3 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Francis Lynch	Norah Irene Elizabeth Rooney
	💍 1912/4914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Ann's Church, Green St, Wellington
Folio	12/4813
Consent	Michael Rooney, Father
Date of Certificate	3 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Peoples

543

3 July 1912

Frederick John Bullard Brampton
Elizabeth Pilkington

Frederick John Bullard Crampton
Elizabeth Pilkington
💍 1912/4731

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

30
27

Koro Koro
Koro Koro

9 years
6 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

12/4606

3 July 1912

G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

No	543
Date of Notice	3 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Bullard Brampton	Elizabeth Pilkington
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick John Bullard Crampton	Elizabeth Pilkington
	💍 1912/4731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Koro Koro	Koro Koro
Length of Residence	9 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	12/4606
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1912
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

544

3 July 1912

James Edward Oliver
Nellie Fear

James Edward Oliver
Nellie Fear
💍 1912/9291

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

35
31

Hutt
Hutt

8 months
3 years

St. Andrew's Manse, Hill Street, Wellington

12/8606

3 July 1912

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	544
Date of Notice	3 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Oliver	Nellie Fear
	💍 1912/9291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	8 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	12/8606
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

545

3 July 1912

Charles James Russell
Maria Duff

Charles James Russell
Maria Duff
💍 1912/4732

Widower
Widow

Retired Civil Servant

69
66

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
32 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

12/4607

3 July 1912

G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

No	545
Date of Notice	3 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles James Russell	Maria Duff
	💍 1912/4732
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Retired Civil Servant
Age	69	66
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	12/4607
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1912
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

546

3 July 1912

Allan Ellesmere Warburton
Mabel Emmeline Slack

Allan Ellesmere Warburton
Mabel Emmeline Slack
💍 1912/4733

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
3 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

12/4608

John Slack, Father

3 July 1912

G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

No	546
Date of Notice	3 July 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Ellesmere Warburton	Mabel Emmeline Slack
	💍 1912/4733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	12/4608
Consent	John Slack, Father
Date of Certificate	3 July 1912
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

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).