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 517

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

126

15 February 1912

John Butter
Christena Branley

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator

30
32

Kelburne
Wellington

4 years
2 years

St Mary of the Angels Presbytery Wellington

12/762

15 February 1912

Rev. J. Coggan

No	126
Date of Notice	15 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Butter	Christena Branley
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Kelburne	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Presbytery Wellington
Folio	12/762
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Coggan

127

15 February 1912

Joseph William Allan Heenan
Hilda May Andrew

Joseph William Allan Keenan
Hilda May Andrew
💍 1912/1047

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

24
18

Rona Bay
Rona Bay

20 years
8 years

St Peters Church Wellington

12/697

James Andrew, Father

15 February 1912

Rev. E. I. Sola

No	127
Date of Notice	15 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Allan Heenan	Hilda May Andrew
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph William Allan Keenan	Hilda May Andrew
	💍 1912/1047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Rona Bay	Rona Bay
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Wellington
Folio	12/697
Consent	James Andrew, Father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. I. Sola

128

15 February 1912

William Andrew Koster
Annie Elizabeth Bateman

William Andrew Koster
Annie Elizabeth Bateman
💍 1912/558

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

48
30

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
6 months

Registrars Office Wellington

12/132

15 February 1912

G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

No	128
Date of Notice	15 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Andrew Koster	Annie Elizabeth Bateman
	💍 1912/558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	48	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	12/132
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1912
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

129

19 February 1912

Leonard William James Leadbeater
Violet Smith

Leonard William James Leadbeater
Violet Smith
💍 1912/1088

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

21
18

Petone
Petone

Life
2 years

St. Pauls Pro Cathedral Wellington

12/714

William Smith, Father

19 February 1912

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	129
Date of Notice	19 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard William James Leadbeater	Violet Smith
	💍 1912/1088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Pro Cathedral Wellington
Folio	12/714
Consent	William Smith, Father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

130

19 February 1912

Charles Henry Buchanan
Susan Ethel May Harold

Charles Henry Buchanan
Susan Ethel May Harold
💍 1912/1180

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

25
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Sacred Heart Church Wellington

12/757

19 February 1912

Rev J. P. Hickson

No	130
Date of Notice	19 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Buchanan	Susan Ethel May Harold
	💍 1912/1180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church Wellington
Folio	12/757
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 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).