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 511

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

136

24 February 1913

John Graham Gow
Maysie Alice Marianne Collie

John Graham Gow
Maysie Alice Marianne Collie
💍 1913/1662

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Student

28
25

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
17 months

St. Marks Church, Wellington

13/1073

24 February 1913

Rev. G. J. Askew

No	136
Date of Notice	24 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Graham Gow	Maysie Alice Marianne Collie
	💍 1913/1662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Student
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	17 months
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	13/1073
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Askew

137

25 February 1913

Ebenezer Hall
Ethel May Jackson

Ebenezer Hall
Ethel May Jackson
💍 1913/877

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
3 days

Registrars Office, Wellington

13/126

25 February 1913

Registrar

No	137
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ebenezer Hall	Ethel May Jackson
	💍 1913/877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	13/126
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Registrar

138

25 February 1913

William Francis Eades
Edith Lillian Jones

William Francis Eades
Edith Lillian Jones
💍 1913/4786

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

27
20

Pelone
Pelone

2 years
4 years

Residence of Mr. W. H. Jones, Fitzherbert Street, Pelone

13/438

William Henry Jones, father

25 February 1913

Rev. A. Thomson

No	138
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Eades	Edith Lillian Jones
	💍 1913/4786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Pelone	Pelone
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. H. Jones, Fitzherbert Street, Pelone
Folio	13/438
Consent	William Henry Jones, father
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

139

25 February 1913

Phillip Willway Suckling
Daisy Emma Beatrice Greville

Phillip Willway Suckling
Daisy Emma Beatrice Greville
💍 1913/1693

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

28
29

Wellington
Brooklyn

3 days
3 weeks

Anglican Church, Brooklyn

13/1081

26 February 1913

Rev. R. H. H. Obday

No	139
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Phillip Willway Suckling	Daisy Emma Beatrice Greville
	💍 1913/1693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Brooklyn
Folio	13/1081
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. H. Obday

140

25 February 1913

Francis Frederick Townend
Rennie Alberta Hovey

Francis Fredrick Townend
Rennie Alberta Holy
💍 1913/1565

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
10 days

St. Peters Church, Wellington

13/1128

25 February 1913

Arch. G. G. Harper

No	140
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Frederick Townend	Rennie Alberta Hovey
BDM Match (93%)	Francis Fredrick Townend	Rennie Alberta Holy
	💍 1913/1565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	10 days
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	13/1128
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Arch. G. G. Harper

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).