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 615

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

641

30 August 1913

Oswald Gardiner Dewison
Kathleen Isabel Doris Bevan

Oswald Gardiner Hewison
Katheleen Isabel Doris Bevan
💍 1913/5592

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxicab Proprietor

26
20

Wellington
Wellington

2½ years
2 years

St Paul's Pro-Cathedral

13/5248

Harold Bevan, Father

30 August 1913

Rev A. M. Johnson

No	641
Date of Notice	30 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oswald Gardiner Dewison	Kathleen Isabel Doris Bevan
BDM Match (96%)	Oswald Gardiner Hewison	Katheleen Isabel Doris Bevan
	💍 1913/5592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxicab Proprietor
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2½ years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro-Cathedral
Folio	13/5248
Consent	Harold Bevan, Father
Date of Certificate	30 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev A. M. Johnson

642

30 August 1913

Andrew John George Manson
Grace Lavinia Williams

Andrew John George Manson
Grace Lavinia Williams
💍 1913/5568

Bachelor
Spinster

Waterside Worker

30
30

Wellington
Wellington

15 months
2 years

St James Presbyterian Manse, Wellington

13/5249

30 August 1913

Rev W. Shirer

No	642
Date of Notice	30 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew John George Manson	Grace Lavinia Williams
	💍 1913/5568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waterside Worker
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Manse, Wellington
Folio	13/5249
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Shirer

643

1 September 1913

Conrad Davis Crispin
Catherine Olive Kay

Conrad Davis Crispin
Catherine Olive Kay
💍 1913/5709

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

40
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
12 months

Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington

13/5295

1 September 1913

Rev G. Knowles Smith

No	643
Date of Notice	1 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conrad Davis Crispin	Catherine Olive Kay
	💍 1913/5709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	13/5295
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Knowles Smith

644

1 September 1913

John Thomas Taylor
Elizabeth Attwell

John Thomas Taylor
Elizabeth Attwell
💍 1913/6283

Widower
Spinster

Paperhanger

47
43

Wellington
Karori

27 years
5 years

St Mark's Church

13/6045

1 September 1913

Rev B. F. Askew

No	644
Date of Notice	1 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Taylor	Elizabeth Attwell
	💍 1913/6283
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Paperhanger
Age	47	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	27 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church
Folio	13/6045
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev B. F. Askew

645

1 September 1913

Harold Francis Walker
Rose Florence Grant

Harold Francis Walker
Rose Florence Grant
💍 1913/5629

Bachelor
Divorced

Brickman

21
30

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
30 years

Residence of Mr. O. Winnie, Hutt Road, Lower Hutt

13/5311

1 September 1913

Rev J. L. Lewis

No	645
Date of Notice	1 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Francis Walker	Rose Florence Grant
	💍 1913/5629
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Brickman
Age	21	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. O. Winnie, Hutt Road, Lower Hutt
Folio	13/5311
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev J. L. Lewis

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).