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 613

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodghins

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

631

27 August 1913

Edward Smith Snellgrove
Maud Butterfield

Edward Smith Snellgrove
Maude Butterfield
💍 1913/6820

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

67
40

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
16 weeks

Residence of Mr Miles, 35 Collice Street, Wellington

13/6257

27 August 1913

Rev. W. McLean

No	631
Date of Notice	27 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Smith Snellgrove	Maud Butterfield
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Smith Snellgrove	Maude Butterfield
	💍 1913/6820
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	67	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	16 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Miles, 35 Collice Street, Wellington
Folio	13/6257
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McLean

632

27 August 1913

Leslie John Ernest Smith
Ethel May Harding

Leslie John Ernest Smith
Ethel May Harding
💍 1913/5567

Bachelor
Spinster

Glass Polisher

21
18

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
2 years

St. James Church, Wellington

13/5223

Frederick William Harding, father

27 August 1913

Rev. W. Shirer

No	632
Date of Notice	27 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie John Ernest Smith	Ethel May Harding
	💍 1913/5567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Glass Polisher
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Wellington
Folio	13/5223
Consent	Frederick William Harding, father
Date of Certificate	27 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

633

27 August 1913

Henry Johnson Danlon
Clara Winters

Henry Johnson Danton
Clara Winters
💍 1913/4962

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

30
27

D.D. Ripple at Wellington
Wellington

4.5 years
4.5 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/4614

27 August 1913

Registrar

No	633
Date of Notice	27 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Johnson Danlon	Clara Winters
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Johnson Danton	Clara Winters
	💍 1913/4962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	D.D. Ripple at Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4.5 years	4.5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/4614
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

634

27 August 1913

Horace Lester Davis
Veronica Harries Somes

Horace Lester Davis
Veronica Harriet Somes
💍 1913/5612

Bachelor
Spinster

Reporter

21
18

Wellington
Wellington

8 months
3 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

13/5269

Somes, father

27 August 1913

Rev. J. Herring

No	634
Date of Notice	27 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Lester Davis	Veronica Harries Somes
BDM Match (98%)	Horace Lester Davis	Veronica Harriet Somes
	💍 1913/5612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Reporter
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	13/5269
Consent	Somes, father
Date of Certificate	27 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Herring

635

28 August 1913

Harry Bell Longmore
Florence Ethel Archer

Harry Bell Longmore
Florence Ethel Archer
💍 1913/5600

Bachelor
Spinster

Estate Agent

35
31

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
Life

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

13/5233

28 August 1913

Rev. J. Kelliott

No	635
Date of Notice	28 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Bell Longmore	Florence Ethel Archer
	💍 1913/5600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Estate Agent
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	Life
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	13/5233
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kelliott

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).