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 010

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar G. Thorburn

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

25 February 1913

Robert Laws
Esther Whyte Diggee

Robert Laws
Esther Whyte Diggle
💍 1913/377

Bachelor
Spinster

Pattern Maker

29
21

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

4 days
8 years

House of Miss Whyte, Gordon St, Dannevirke

13/836

25 February 1913

Rev. A. Grant

No	7
Date of Notice	25 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Laws	Esther Whyte Diggee
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Laws	Esther Whyte Diggle
	💍 1913/377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pattern Maker
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	4 days	8 years
Marriage Place	House of Miss Whyte, Gordon St, Dannevirke
Folio	13/836
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Grant

28 February 1913

Edward Cecil Bates
Amelia Elizabeth Benzie

Edmund Cecil Bates
Amelia Elizabeth Benzie
💍 1913/1354

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

35
30

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

6 years
9 years

Anglican Church, Dannevirke

13/829

28 February 1913

Rev. W. Ford Hutchinson

No	8
Date of Notice	28 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Cecil Bates	Amelia Elizabeth Benzie
BDM Match (92%)	Edmund Cecil Bates	Amelia Elizabeth Benzie
	💍 1913/1354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Dannevirke
Folio	13/829
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ford Hutchinson

1 March 1913

Walter George McIntosh
Ella Marion Avice Diamond

Walter George McIntosh
Ella Marion Avice Diamond
💍 1913/1355

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

22
23

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

20 years
8 years

Anglican Church, Dannevirke

13/830

1 March 1913

Rev. W. Ford Hutchinson

No	9
Date of Notice	1 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter George McIntosh	Ella Marion Avice Diamond
	💍 1913/1355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Dannevirke
Folio	13/830
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ford Hutchinson

3 March 1913

Sydney Hugh John Bevan Eaton
Clarice Elsie Rose Reynolds

Sydney Hugh John Bevan Eaton
Clarice Elsie Rose Reynolds
💍 1913/1356

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman

23
30

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

20 years
8 years

Anglican Church, Dannevirke

13/831

3 March 1913

Rev. W. Ford Hutchinson

No	10
Date of Notice	3 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Hugh John Bevan Eaton	Clarice Elsie Rose Reynolds
	💍 1913/1356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman
Age	23	30
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Dannevirke
Folio	13/831
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ford Hutchinson

11 March 1913

Stanley Carrington Baker
Florence Louisa Smith

Stanley Carrington Baker
Florence Louisa Smith
💍 1913/2535

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand

26
29

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

2 years
26 years

Wesleyan Church, Dannevirke

13/2081

11 March 1913

Rev. J. A. Hocking

No	11
Date of Notice	11 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Carrington Baker	Florence Louisa Smith
	💍 1913/2535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Dannevirke
Folio	13/2081
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Hocking

15 March 1913

Harry Perry
Winifred Mary Galland

Harry Perry
Winifred Mary Ballard
💍 1913/2536

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
22

Palmerston N.
Dannevirke

22 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Dannevirke

13/2082

15 March 1913

Rev. J. A. Hocking

No	12
Date of Notice	15 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Perry	Winifred Mary Galland
BDM Match (95%)	Harry Perry	Winifred Mary Ballard
	💍 1913/2536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston N.	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	22 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Dannevirke
Folio	13/2082
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Hocking

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).