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 571

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

426

4 June 1913

Llewellyn John Williams
Louisa Helen Wadman

Llewellyn John Williams
Louisa Helen Wadman
💍 1913/3425

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Signal Erector

30
34

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
18 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

13/3299

4 June 1913

J. K. Elliott

No	426
Date of Notice	4 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Llewellyn John Williams	Louisa Helen Wadman
	💍 1913/3425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Signal Erector
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	13/3299
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1913
Officiating Minister	J. K. Elliott

427

4 June 1913

William Henry John Toomer
Ada Marguerite Mitchell

William Henry John Toomer
Ada Marguerite Mitchell
💍 1913/6483

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

24
23

Lyall Bay
Lyall Bay

14 years
Life

St. Thomas' Church, Wellington

13/6220

4 June 1913

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	427
Date of Notice	4 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry John Toomer	Ada Marguerite Mitchell
	💍 1913/6483
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Lyall Bay	Lyall Bay
Length of Residence	14 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Wellington
Folio	13/6220
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

428

4 June 1913

Robert Thompson Bland
Ann Jane Baker

Robert Thompson Bland
Ann Jane Baker
💍 1913/2615

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 9 October 1909)

Labourer

31
38

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
62 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/2235

4 June 1913

Registrar

No	428
Date of Notice	4 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Thompson Bland	Ann Jane Baker
	💍 1913/2615
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 9 October 1909)
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	62 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/2235
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

429

4 June 1913

Charles Thomas Scrimgeour
Mabel Florence Buchanan

Masterman Charles Thomas Scoringe
Mabel Florence Buchanan
💍 1913/3743

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

22
21

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
21 years

Residence of Mr. Scrimgeour, 28 Martin Square, Wellington

13/3241

4 June 1913

Rev. W. Shirer

No	429
Date of Notice	4 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thomas Scrimgeour	Mabel Florence Buchanan
BDM Match (77%)	Masterman Charles Thomas Scoringe	Mabel Florence Buchanan
	💍 1913/3743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Scrimgeour, 28 Martin Square, Wellington
Folio	13/3241
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

430

4 June 1913

Humbert Edward Santi
Mabel Maxwell Davidson

Humbert Edward Santi
Mabel Maxwell Davidson
💍 1913/6340

Widower (2 July 1910)
Spinster

Slater

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

Life
1 week

Methodist Church, Molesworth Street, Wellington

13/6101

4 June 1913

Rev. G. S. Cook

No	430
Date of Notice	4 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Humbert Edward Santi	Mabel Maxwell Davidson
	💍 1913/6340
Condition	Widower (2 July 1910)	Spinster
Profession	Slater
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	1 week
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Molesworth Street, Wellington
Folio	13/6101
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Cook

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).