Intentions to Marry, 1913 Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840452, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1913 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1913a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1913b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1913c).

Page 028

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Robert Brathwaite

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

11 March 1913

Harold Horthover
Margaret Violet Hanning

Harold Northover
Margaret Violet Hanning
💍 1913/1764

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic duties

24
23

Hastings
Hastings

4 days
14 days

St Andrews Church, Hastings

13/1229

11 March 1913

Rev. Wm. Macdonald

No	17
Date of Notice	11 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Horthover	Margaret Violet Hanning
BDM Match (97%)	Harold Northover	Margaret Violet Hanning
	💍 1913/1764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Hastings
Folio	13/1229
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Macdonald

12 March 1913

Thomas Mitchell
Violet Mary Jane Maria Mclaut

Thomas Mitchell
Violet Mary Jane Maria Marchant
💍 1913/381

Bachelor
Spinster

Sauce Maker
Dressmaker

24
24

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
2 years

St Matthews, Hastings

13/849

12 March 1913

Rev J. B. Brocklehurst

No	18
Date of Notice	12 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mitchell	Violet Mary Jane Maria Mclaut
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Mitchell	Violet Mary Jane Maria Marchant
	💍 1913/381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sauce Maker	Dressmaker
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews, Hastings
Folio	13/849
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev J. B. Brocklehurst

12 March 1913

Montague Percy Simpson
Lavinia Rosson

Montague Percy Simpson
Lavinia Rosson
💍 1913/922

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Waitress

28
25

Hastings
Hastings

4 months
5 weeks

Registrar's Office, Hastings

13/305

12 March 1913

Robert Brathwaite

No	19
Date of Notice	12 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Montague Percy Simpson	Lavinia Rosson
	💍 1913/922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Waitress
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 months	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	13/305
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite

15 March 1913

Michael McGrath
Mary O'Sullivan

Michael McGrath
Mary O'Sullivan
💍 1913/387

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
Domestic

31
25

Hastings
Hastings

3 years
6 months

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

13/855

15 March 1913

Rev. Father Mahony

No	20
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael McGrath	Mary O'Sullivan
	💍 1913/387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	Domestic
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	13/855
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Mahony

19 March 1913

John James Downey
Bertha Ivy Robinson

John James Downey
Bertha Ivy Robinson
💍 1913/923

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

26
23

Hastings
Hastings

15 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Hastings

13/306

19 March 1913

Robert Brathwaite

No	21
Date of Notice	19 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Downey	Bertha Ivy Robinson
	💍 1913/923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	13/306
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite

20 March 1913

William Cornelius O'Donoghue
Jessie Mary Allison

William Cornelius O'Donoghue
Jessie Mary Allison
💍 1913/386

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

25
24

Hastings
Hastings

6 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

13/854

20 March 1913

Rev. Father Keogh

No	22
Date of Notice	20 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cornelius O'Donoghue	Jessie Mary Allison
	💍 1913/386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	13/854
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Keogh

20 March 1913

John Munro Sutherland
Maud Annie Weaver

John Munro Sutherlan
Maud Anne Walker
💍 1913/4683

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk
Domestic Duties

32
32

Hastings
Taihape

32 years
3 months

English Church, Taihape

13/855

20 March 1913

Rev. P. W. Clarkson

No	23
Date of Notice	20 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Munro Sutherland	Maud Annie Weaver
BDM Match (86%)	John Munro Sutherlan	Maud Anne Walker
	💍 1913/4683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Taihape
Length of Residence	32 years	3 months
Marriage Place	English Church, Taihape
Folio	13/855
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Clarkson

20 March 1913

Lionel Henry Cooper
Elizabeth Lynn

Lionel Henry Cooper
Elizabeth Lynn
💍 1913/389

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith
Domestic Duties

24
23

Hastings
Hastings

6 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

13/856

20 March 1913

Rev. Father Mahony

No	24
Date of Notice	20 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Henry Cooper	Elizabeth Lynn
	💍 1913/389
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	13/856
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Mahony

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).