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 538

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

226

23 March 1912

William Ogilvie Urquhart
Ida Marion Tonks

William Ogilvie Urquhart
Ida Marion Tonks
💍 1912/1007

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

20
19

Wellington
Wellington

15 yrs
19 yrs

Residence of Wm. Tonks, 17 Thompson Street, Wellington

12/599

William Tonks, Father, Isabella Urquhart, Mother

23 March 1912

Rev. E. O. Blamires

No	226
Date of Notice	23 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ogilvie Urquhart	Ida Marion Tonks
	💍 1912/1007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 yrs	19 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Wm. Tonks, 17 Thompson Street, Wellington
Folio	12/599
Consent	William Tonks, Father, Isabella Urquhart, Mother
Date of Certificate	23 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. O. Blamires

227

23 March 1912

Basil Lucas Donne
Kate Hoggard

Basil Lucas Doune
Kate Hoggard
💍 1912/1105

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Manager

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

25 yrs
26 yrs

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

12/707

23 March 1912

Arch. C. C. Harper

No	227
Date of Notice	23 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Basil Lucas Donne	Kate Hoggard
BDM Match (97%)	Basil Lucas Doune	Kate Hoggard
	💍 1912/1105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 yrs	26 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	12/707
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Arch. C. C. Harper

228

23 March 1912

Henry Collins
Florence Truscott Fearey

Henry Collins
Florence Truscott Feasey
💍 1912/1123

Bachelor
Divorced, Decree absolute 20 Sep 1911

Railway Machinist

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

13 yrs
15 yrs

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

12/748

23 March 1912

Rev. H. Beggs

No	228
Date of Notice	23 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Collins	Florence Truscott Fearey
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Collins	Florence Truscott Feasey
	💍 1912/1123
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced, Decree absolute 20 Sep 1911
Profession	Railway Machinist
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 yrs	15 yrs
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	12/748
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

229

23 March 1912

Albert John Oram
Agnes Caroline Ovenden

Albert John Oram
Agnes Caroline Obenden
💍 1912/2775

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
36

Wellington
Wellington

3 yrs
2 yrs

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

12/2570

23 March 1912

Arch. C. C. Harper

No	229
Date of Notice	23 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Oram	Agnes Caroline Ovenden
BDM Match (98%)	Albert John Oram	Agnes Caroline Obenden
	💍 1912/2775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	12/2570
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Arch. C. C. Harper

230

25 March 1912

Alfred Thomas Broderick
Elizabeth Thomas Kemp

Alfred Thomas Broderick
Elizabeth Thomas Kemp
💍 1912/1258

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

42
34

Johnsonville
Johnsonville

Life
3 yrs

St. Andrew's Manse, Hill Street, Wellington

12/934

25 March 1912

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	230
Date of Notice	25 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Thomas Broderick	Elizabeth Thomas Kemp
	💍 1912/1258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	42	34
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	Life	3 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	12/934
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

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).