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 596

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

546

21 July 1913

Frank George Clifford Thompson
Frances Mary Edwards

Frank George Clifford Thompson
Frances Mary Edwards
💍 1913/5562

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

life
life

Residence of Mr. E. Edwards, 4 Russell Terrace, Wellington

13/5219

E. Edwards, father

21 July 1913

Rev. W. Shirer

No	546
Date of Notice	21 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank George Clifford Thompson	Frances Mary Edwards
	💍 1913/5562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	life	life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. E. Edwards, 4 Russell Terrace, Wellington
Folio	13/5219
Consent	E. Edwards, father
Date of Certificate	21 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

547

21 July 1913

Albert Henry Fellow
Emily Tingo Sadler

Albert Henry Pellow
Emily Virgo Courtney Sadler
💍 1913/6296

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

20
22

Wellington
Wellington

14 days
14 days

St. Andrew's Church, Wellington

13/589

William Fellow, father

21 July 1913

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	547
Date of Notice	21 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Fellow	Emily Tingo Sadler
BDM Match (77%)	Albert Henry Pellow	Emily Virgo Courtney Sadler
	💍 1913/6296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Wellington
Folio	13/589
Consent	William Fellow, father
Date of Certificate	21 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

548

22 July 1913

Joseph John Baptist Leon Dennell
Ellesmere Rebecca Aldridge

Jospeh John Baptist Leon Dennett
Ellesmere Rebecca Aldridge
💍 1913/4937

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
6 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/4589

22 July 1913

Registrar

No	548
Date of Notice	22 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph John Baptist Leon Dennell	Ellesmere Rebecca Aldridge
BDM Match (94%)	Jospeh John Baptist Leon Dennett	Ellesmere Rebecca Aldridge
	💍 1913/4937
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/4589
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

549

23 July 1913

Robert Kyle
Ruby Ellen Jackwood

Robert Kyle
Ruby Ellen Packwood
💍 1913/4938

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Grocer

26
24

Petone
Petone

4 1/2 years
2 1/2 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/4590

23 July 1913

Registrar

No	549
Date of Notice	23 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Kyle	Ruby Ellen Jackwood
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Kyle	Ruby Ellen Packwood
	💍 1913/4938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Grocer
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/4590
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

550

23 July 1913

Francis Eugene George O'Beirne
Elizabeth Howells

Francis Eugene George O'Beirne
Elizabeth Howells
💍 1913/5606

Bachelor
Widow

Barrister & Solicitor

34
about 34

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
7 days

Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington

13/5263

23 July 1913

Rev. P. W. Symons

No	550
Date of Notice	23 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Eugene George O'Beirne	Elizabeth Howells
	💍 1913/5606
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Barrister & Solicitor
Age	34	about 34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington
Folio	13/5263
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Symons

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).