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 224

District of Feilding Quarter ending 30 September 1913 Registrar C. B. Halliday

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

16 July 1913

George Henry Delbridge
Matilda Bowden

George Henry Delbridge
Matilda Bawden
💍 1913/6247

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

33
26

Feilding
Feilding

3 years
6 years

Presbyterian manse Feilding

13/1598

16 July 1913

Rev. Geo Budd

No	33
Date of Notice	16 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Delbridge	Matilda Bowden
BDM Match (96%)	George Henry Delbridge	Matilda Bawden
	💍 1913/6247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian manse Feilding
Folio	13/1598
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Budd

11 August 1913

John Thomas Fahay
Mary Jane Dowling

John Thomas Fahy
Mary Jane Dowling
💍 1913/5864

Widower
Spinster

Railway Electrician

48
43

Wellington
Colyton

3 days
4 weeks

Roman Catholic Church Feilding

13/1547

11 August 1913

M. O'Dwyer

No	34
Date of Notice	11 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Fahay	Mary Jane Dowling
BDM Match (97%)	John Thomas Fahy	Mary Jane Dowling
	💍 1913/5864
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Railway Electrician
Age	48	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Colyton
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Feilding
Folio	13/1547
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1913
Officiating Minister	M. O'Dwyer

18 August 1913

Albert Charles Barnes
Catherine Margaret Chubbin

Albert Charles Barnes
Catherine Margaret Chubbin
💍 1913/6248

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
32

Hunterville
Hunterville

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church Feilding

13/1598

18 August 1913

Rev. Geo Budd

No	35
Date of Notice	18 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Charles Barnes	Catherine Margaret Chubbin
	💍 1913/6248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Hunterville
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Feilding
Folio	13/1598
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Budd

29 August 1913

Joseph Samuel Redclifton
Rachel Irwin

Joseph Samuel Edelsten
Rachel Irwin
💍 1913/6224

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder

29
26

Feilding
Feilding

2 years
15 years

Church of England Feilding

13/1595

29 August 1913

Rev. A. S. Innes Jones

No	36
Date of Notice	29 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Samuel Redclifton	Rachel Irwin
BDM Match (88%)	Joseph Samuel Edelsten	Rachel Irwin
	💍 1913/6224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Feilding
Folio	13/1595
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Innes Jones

5 September 1913

Percy Fisher
Alice Margaret Wenham

Percy Fisher
Margaret Alice Wenham
💍 1913/6249

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

26
27

Feilding
Feilding

13 years
27 years

Residence of Mr. Wenham Feilding

13/15984

5 September 1913

Rev. Geo Budd

No	37
Date of Notice	5 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Fisher	Alice Margaret Wenham
BDM Match (71%)	Percy Fisher	Margaret Alice Wenham
	💍 1913/6249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	13 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Wenham Feilding
Folio	13/15984
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Budd

15 September 1913

John Salisbury Greenhow
Constance Rhoda Maclean

John Salisbury Greenhow
Constance Rhoda Maclean
💍 1913/6225

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
23

Bunnythorpe
Feilding

2 years
23 years

Church of England Ashhurst

13/15960

15 September 1913

Rev. A. S. Innes Jones

No	38
Date of Notice	15 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Salisbury Greenhow	Constance Rhoda Maclean
	💍 1913/6225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Bunnythorpe	Feilding
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ashhurst
Folio	13/15960
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Innes Jones

22 September 1913

John Wesley Young
Isabel Winifred Sporle

John Wesley Young
Isabel Winifred Sporle
💍 1913/6251

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

25
19

Feilding
Feilding

18 months
10 years

The residence of Robert James Sporle Manchester St. Feilding

13/1598

Robert James Sporle, Father

22 September 1913

Rev. Geo Budd

No	39
Date of Notice	22 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wesley Young	Isabel Winifred Sporle
	💍 1913/6251
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	18 months	10 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Robert James Sporle Manchester St. Feilding
Folio	13/1598
Consent	Robert James Sporle, Father
Date of Certificate	22 September 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Budd

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).