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 629

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

706

23 September 1913

Charles Deymer Whitcher
Mabel Annie Sebley

Charles Seymer Whitcher
Mabel Annie Sebly
💍 1913/5637

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28
26

Pelone
Pelone

12 years
15 years

St. Augustine's Church

13/5319

23 September 1913

Rev. G. B. Stephenson

No	706
Date of Notice	23 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Deymer Whitcher	Mabel Annie Sebley
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Seymer Whitcher	Mabel Annie Sebly
	💍 1913/5637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Pelone	Pelone
Length of Residence	12 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church
Folio	13/5319
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson

707

23 September 1913

William Tyrrall Richardson
Alice Ethel Richardson

William Tyrrall
Alice Ethel Richardson
💍 1913/5632

Bachelor
Spinster

Lithographer

26
23

Wellington
Brooklyn

25 years
23 years

Methodist Church, Brooklyn, Wellington

13/5314

23 September 1913

Rev. J. G. White

No	707
Date of Notice	23 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Tyrrall Richardson	Alice Ethel Richardson
BDM Match (79%)	William Tyrrall	Alice Ethel Richardson
	💍 1913/5632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lithographer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	13/5314
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. White

708

23 September 1913

Laurie Alfred Claude Sowman
Louisa May Brook

Lawrie Alfred Claude Sowman
Louisa May Croot
💍 1913/5645

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman

26
33

Wellington
Wellington

7 months
7 months

Baptist Church, Brooklyn, Wellington

13/5303

23 September 1913

Rev. W. G. Johnson

No	708
Date of Notice	23 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurie Alfred Claude Sowman	Louisa May Brook
BDM Match (92%)	Lawrie Alfred Claude Sowman	Louisa May Croot
	💍 1913/5645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman
Age	26	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	13/5303
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Johnson

709

24 September 1913

Robert Edward Smith
Florence Eleanor Pell

Robert Edward Smith
Florence Eleanor Pell
💍 1913/5622

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

25
22

Karori
Karori

3 days
22 years

St. Mary's Church, Karori

13/5255

24 September 1913

Rev. A. L. Hansell

No	709
Date of Notice	24 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Edward Smith	Florence Eleanor Pell
	💍 1913/5622
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Karori
Folio	13/5255
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell

710

24 September 1913

George Fredrick Woodward
Elizabeth Crisp

George Frederick Woodward
Elizabeth Crisp
💍 1913/5596

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

27
29

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
10 weeks

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

13/5229

24 September 1913

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	710
Date of Notice	24 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Fredrick Woodward	Elizabeth Crisp
BDM Match (98%)	George Frederick Woodward	Elizabeth Crisp
	💍 1913/5596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	10 weeks
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	13/5229
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).