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 525

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1913 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

201

12 March 1913

Eliel Charles England
Celine Forester Cooper

Elise Charles England
Celine Forrester Cooper
💍 1913/1694

Bachelor
Spinster

Brassfinisher

26
22

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
22 years

Residence of Mr S.Y. Cooper, 109 Bolesworth Street, Wellington

13/1082

12 March 1913

Rev. G.S. Cook

No	201
Date of Notice	12 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eliel Charles England	Celine Forester Cooper
BDM Match (93%)	Elise Charles England	Celine Forrester Cooper
	💍 1913/1694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brassfinisher
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr S.Y. Cooper, 109 Bolesworth Street, Wellington
Folio	13/1082
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G.S. Cook

202

13 March 1913

Gordon Weeber
Ada Lewis

Gordon Wesber
Ada Lewis
💍 1913/3827

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

26
20

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Presbyterian Church, Kilbirnie

13/335

New Zealand having authority to give consent

27 March 1913

Rev W. Douglas

No	202
Date of Notice	13 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Weeber	Ada Lewis
BDM Match (96%)	Gordon Wesber	Ada Lewis
	💍 1913/3827
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kilbirnie
Folio	13/335
Consent	New Zealand having authority to give consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Douglas

203

13 March 1913

William Percival Lowndes Carter
Vera Carlton Edwards

William Percival Lowndes Carter
Vera Carlton Edwards
💍 1913/3281

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29
23

Wellington
Masterton

9 months
17 years

St. Mathews Church, Masterton

13/3131

13 March 1913

Rev H. Watson

No	203
Date of Notice	13 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Percival Lowndes Carter	Vera Carlton Edwards
	💍 1913/3281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Masterton
Length of Residence	9 months	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Mathews Church, Masterton
Folio	13/3131
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev H. Watson

204

13 March 1913

John Campbell Peacock
Margaret Kate Simpson

John Campbell Peacock
Margaret Kate Simpson
💍 1913/1549

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister + Solicitor

33
34

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
Life

St. Peters Church, Wellington

13/1136

13 March 1913

Arch C.C. Harper

No	204
Date of Notice	13 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Campbell Peacock	Margaret Kate Simpson
	💍 1913/1549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister + Solicitor
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	13/1136
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Arch C.C. Harper

205

14 March 1913

David Glass
Christina Nicoll McBain

David Glass
Christina Nicoll McBain
💍 1913/1585

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

35
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Methodist Church, Northland

13/1171

14 March 1913

Rev P.J. Cossum

No	205
Date of Notice	14 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Glass	Christina Nicoll McBain
	💍 1913/1585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Northland
Folio	13/1171
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev P.J. Cossum

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).