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 513

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

106

6 February 1912

Ernest John Bassett
Jane Eliza Mace

Ernest John Bassett
Jane Eliza Mace
💍 1912/1031

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
8 years

Residence of Mr. H. B. Mace, 9 Lloyd Street, Wellington

12/632

6 February 1912

Rev. J. Gibb

No	106
Date of Notice	6 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Bassett	Jane Eliza Mace
	💍 1912/1031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. B. Mace, 9 Lloyd Street, Wellington
Folio	12/632
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

107

6 February 1912

Robert Ferguson
Ethel Louisa Fisher

Robert Ferguson
Ethel Louisa Fisher
💍 1912/1034

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

31
28

Petone
Petone

3 days
10 days

Presbyterian Church, Petone

12/677

6 February 1912

Rev. A. Thomson

No	107
Date of Notice	6 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ferguson	Ethel Louisa Fisher
	💍 1912/1034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Petone
Folio	12/677
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

108

7 February 1912

Lewis Domb
Eliza Murray

Lewis Domb
Eliza Murray
💍 1912/536

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer

23
30

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
30 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

12/126

7 February 1912

G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

No	108
Date of Notice	7 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Domb	Eliza Murray
	💍 1912/536
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	23	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	12/126
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1912
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

109

7 February 1912

John Norman Arthur Vare
Mabel Frances Cross

John Norman Arthur Vare
Mabel Frances Cross
💍 1912/1099

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Salesman

28
28

Wellington
Wellington

5½ years
9 years

St. Marks Church, Wellington

12/724

7 February 1912

Rev. B. F. Askew

No	109
Date of Notice	7 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Norman Arthur Vare	Mabel Frances Cross
	💍 1912/1099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Salesman
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5½ years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	12/724
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Askew

110

7 February 1912

Leo Anders Jacobsen
Gwladys Elma Martin

Les Anders Jacobsen
Gwladys Elma Martin
💍 1912/1804

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Manager

31
20

Wellington
Island Bay

4 years
2 years

St. Hildas Church, Island Bay

12/1491

Richard Roberts, Father

7 February 1912

Rev. C. W. I. Maclaverly

No	110
Date of Notice	7 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo Anders Jacobsen	Gwladys Elma Martin
BDM Match (97%)	Les Anders Jacobsen	Gwladys Elma Martin
	💍 1912/1804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Island Bay
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Hildas Church, Island Bay
Folio	12/1491
Consent	Richard Roberts, Father
Date of Certificate	7 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. I. Maclaverly

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).