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 552

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

290

3 April 1912

Henry Alexander Milnor McKenzie
Mary Ann Buck

Henry Alexander Wilmer McKenzie
Mary Ann Buck
💍 1912/5089

Bachelor
Widow

Agent

57
54

Wellington
Taita

Life
Life

Residence of Mr McKenzie, 139 Ghuznee Street, Wellington

12/6400

3 April 1912

Rev. J. Paterson

No	290
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alexander Milnor McKenzie	Mary Ann Buck
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Alexander Wilmer McKenzie	Mary Ann Buck
	💍 1912/5089
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Agent
Age	57	54
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Taita
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr McKenzie, 139 Ghuznee Street, Wellington
Folio	12/6400
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

291

3 April 1912

Stephen Glanville Bowles
Mary Marguerite Kerslake

Stephen Glanville Cowles
Mary Marguerite Kerslake
💍 1912/2708

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Clerk

30
24

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
Life

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

12/2430

3 April 1912

Rev. G. F. Askew

No	291
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Glanville Bowles	Mary Marguerite Kerslake
BDM Match (98%)	Stephen Glanville Cowles	Mary Marguerite Kerslake
	💍 1912/2708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Clerk
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	12/2430
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Askew

292

4 April 1912

Harold Douglas Barton
Esther Clarke

Harold Douglas Barton
Esther Clarke
💍 1912/2646

Divorced (Decree absolute 3/4/1912)
Spinster

Accountant

29
26

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
1½ years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

12/2466

4 April 1912

Rev. H. Beggs

No	292
Date of Notice	4 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Douglas Barton	Esther Clarke
	💍 1912/2646
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 3/4/1912)	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	1½ years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	12/2466
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

293

4 April 1912

Charles Henry Heathcote James
Beatrice Mary Maria Watkins

Charles Henry Heathcote James
Beatrice Mary Maria Watkins
💍 1912/2726

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer

26
25

Petone
Petone

1½ years
6 years

Methodist Church, Petone

12/2520

4 April 1912

Rev. B. H. Ginger

No	293
Date of Notice	4 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Heathcote James	Beatrice Mary Maria Watkins
	💍 1912/2726
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	1½ years	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Petone
Folio	12/2520
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. H. Ginger

294

4 April 1912

Albert George Vine
Lydia Oakley

Albert George Vine
Lydia Oakley
💍 1912/2096

Divorced (Decree absolute 27/3/1912)
Spinster

Labourer

36
38

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
1 year

Registrars Office, Wellington

12/1777

4 April 1912

G. G. Hodgkins

No	294
Date of Notice	4 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert George Vine	Lydia Oakley
	💍 1912/2096
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 27/3/1912)	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	12/1777
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1912
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins

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).