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 520

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

176

7 March 1913

Kenneth Oswald Aitken
Ivy Annella Scott

Kenneth Oswald Aitken
Ivy Annetta Scott
💍 1913/2514

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookseller

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
Life

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

13/1983

13 March 1913

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	176
Date of Notice	7 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Oswald Aitken	Ivy Annella Scott
BDM Match (94%)	Kenneth Oswald Aitken	Ivy Annetta Scott
	💍 1913/2514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookseller
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	13/1983
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott

177

7 March 1913

Alfred Moacey
Minnie Kenny

Alfred Macey
Minnie Kenny
💍 1913/3050

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

33
37

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
12 years

St. Lukes Church, Wadestown

13/1952

13 March 1913

Rev J. G. S. Bartlett

No	177
Date of Notice	7 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Moacey	Minnie Kenny
BDM Match (96%)	Alfred Macey	Minnie Kenny
	💍 1913/3050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	33	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Wadestown
Folio	13/1952
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev J. G. S. Bartlett

178

7 March 1913

Alfred Leonard Shackelford
May Florence Podes

Alfred Leonard Shackelford
May Florence Coles
💍 1913/1569

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
23 years

St. Peters Church, Wellington

13/1132

13 March 1913

Arch C. C. Harper

No	178
Date of Notice	7 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Leonard Shackelford	May Florence Podes
BDM Match (94%)	Alfred Leonard Shackelford	May Florence Coles
	💍 1913/1569
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	13/1132
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Arch C. C. Harper

179

7 March 1913

Irven Lancelot Willis Raymond
Edith Johnson

Irwen Lancelot Willis Raymond
Edith Johnson
💍 1913/1575

Leonard Hodsdon
Edith Johnson
💍 1913/6848

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Manager

28
27

Invercargill
Wellington

6 years
10 months

St. Andrews Church, Wellington

13/1162

13 March 1913

Rev J. Gibson Smith

No	179
Date of Notice	7 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Irven Lancelot Willis Raymond	Edith Johnson
BDM Match (98%)	Irwen Lancelot Willis Raymond	Edith Johnson
	💍 1913/1575
BDM Match (60%)	Leonard Hodsdon	Edith Johnson
	💍 1913/6848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	10 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Wellington
Folio	13/1162
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Gibson Smith

180

7 March 1913

William Hans McIllraith
Isabella Burns

William Hans McIlraith
Isabella Burns
💍 1913/1563

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

34
30

Wellington
Ngaio

7 years
30 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

13/1149

13 March 1913

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	180
Date of Notice	7 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hans McIllraith	Isabella Burns
BDM Match (98%)	William Hans McIlraith	Isabella Burns
	💍 1913/1563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Ngaio
Length of Residence	7 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	13/1149
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 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).