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 511

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

3 February 1912

George Henry Hill
Christina Maria Avery

George Henry Hill
Christina Maria Abery
💍 1912/1044

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

42
32

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
8 years

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

12/695

3 February 1912

Archdeacon C. C. Harper

No	96
Date of Notice	3 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Hill	Christina Maria Avery
BDM Match (98%)	George Henry Hill	Christina Maria Abery
	💍 1912/1044
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	12/695
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon C. C. Harper

3 February 1912

Andrew Sword Scott
Johanna Mary Josephine Finucane

Andrew Sword Scott
Johanna Mary Josephine Finucane
💍 1912/1163

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

31
31

Hutt
Wellington

1 week
Life

St. Mary of the Angels' Church, Wellington

12/764

3 February 1912

Rev. C. F. Venning

No	97
Date of Notice	3 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Sword Scott	Johanna Mary Josephine Finucane
	💍 1912/1163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels' Church, Wellington
Folio	12/764
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Venning

3 February 1912

William Arthur Leopold Von Keisenberg
Margaret Mary Alocque Martin

William Arthur Leopold Von Keisenberg
Margaret Mary Alocque Martini
💍 1912/1178

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

30
28

Wellington
Wellington

15 years
8 years

Sacred Heart Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

12/755

3 February 1912

Rev. W. Peoples

No	98
Date of Notice	3 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Leopold Von Keisenberg	Margaret Mary Alocque Martin
BDM Match (98%)	William Arthur Leopold Von Keisenberg	Margaret Mary Alocque Martini
	💍 1912/1178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	12/755
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Peoples

5 February 1912

Alexander Taylor
Elizabeth Sinclair Kirkwood

Alexander Taylor
Elizabeth Sinclair Kirkwood
💍 1912/161

Bachelor
Widow

Clerk

39
34

Wellington
Kelburne

4 days
4 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

12/124

5 February 1912

G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

No	99
Date of Notice	5 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Taylor	Elizabeth Sinclair Kirkwood
	💍 1912/161
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Clerk
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Kelburne
Length of Residence	4 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	12/124
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1912
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

100

5 February 1912

Richard James Horne Lang
Florence Lucy Alice Townsend

Richard James Moore Lang
Florence Lucy Alice Townsend
💍 1912/162

Divorced
Spinster

Gardener

33
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

12/125

5 February 1912

G. G. Hodgkins, Registrar

No	100
Date of Notice	5 February 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard James Horne Lang	Florence Lucy Alice Townsend
BDM Match (94%)	Richard James Moore Lang	Florence Lucy Alice Townsend
	💍 1912/162
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	12/125
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 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).