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 594

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

536

15 July 1913

Henry Harper Lind
Lillian Amena Alford McEwan

Henry Harper Hind
Lillian Armena Alford McEwan
💍 1913/5619

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer

22
17

Island Bay
Island Bay

6 years
8 years

St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay

13/5275

Alford McEwan, father

15 July 1913

Rev. G. W. D. Maclaverty

No	536
Date of Notice	15 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Harper Lind	Lillian Amena Alford McEwan
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Harper Hind	Lillian Armena Alford McEwan
	💍 1913/5619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Island Bay	Island Bay
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay
Folio	13/5275
Consent	Alford McEwan, father
Date of Certificate	15 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. D. Maclaverty

537

15 July 1913

Oswald Frederick Muntz Winstanley
Celeste Clare Morgan

Oswald Frederick Muntz Winstanley
Celeste Clare Morgan
💍 1913/4935

Bachelor
Widow

Commercial Traveller

21
29

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/4587

15 July 1913

Registrar

No	537
Date of Notice	15 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oswald Frederick Muntz Winstanley	Celeste Clare Morgan
	💍 1913/4935
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	21	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/4587
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

538

17 July 1913

William Smith
Delia Alice Archer

William Smith
Celia Alice Archer
💍 1913/4936

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

38
22

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
9 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/4588

17 July 1913

Registrar

No	538
Date of Notice	17 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Smith	Delia Alice Archer
BDM Match (97%)	William Smith	Celia Alice Archer
	💍 1913/4936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/4588
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

539

17 July 1913

Frederick Samuel Rogerson
Bessie Grigg

Fredrick Samuel Rogerson
Bessie Grigg
💍 1913/8884

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

28
22

Wellington
Wellington

19 months
3 1/2 years

Helping Hand Mission Hall, Taranaki Street, Wellington

8388

17 July 1913

Rev. A. J. Brainsby

No	539
Date of Notice	17 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Samuel Rogerson	Bessie Grigg
BDM Match (98%)	Fredrick Samuel Rogerson	Bessie Grigg
	💍 1913/8884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 months	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Helping Hand Mission Hall, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	8388
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Brainsby

540

17 July 1913

John Briggs
Violet Mabel Malin

John Briggs
Violet Mabel Malin
💍 1913/5623

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

29
20

Karori
Karori

7 years
20 years

St. Mary's Church, Karori

13/5256

Henry Malin, father

17 July 1913

Rev. A. L. Hansell

No	540
Date of Notice	17 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Briggs	Violet Mabel Malin
	💍 1913/5623
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Karori
Folio	13/5256
Consent	Henry Malin, father
Date of Certificate	17 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell

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).