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 658

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar Joseph Lissant Palethorpe

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

841

17 November 1913

Robert Ough Oakley Baldwell
Phyllis Cowie Spinski

Robert Hugh Oakley Caldwell
Phyllis Cowie
💍 1913/9159

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
26

Karori
Kilbirnie

24 years
26 years

All Saints Church

13/8838

17 November 1913

Rev. A. L. Carswell

No	841
Date of Notice	17 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ough Oakley Baldwell	Phyllis Cowie Spinski
BDM Match (77%)	Robert Hugh Oakley Caldwell	Phyllis Cowie
	💍 1913/9159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Karori	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	24 years	26 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	13/8838
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Carswell

842

17 November 1913

Bernard Ambrose Moore
Olive Bessie Marsh

Bertrand Ambrose Moore
Olive Bessie Marsh
💍 1913/7578

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

36
20

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St. Peter's Church

13/7356

William Fairchild, father of bride

17 November 1913

Arch. G. G. Harper

No	842
Date of Notice	17 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Ambrose Moore	Olive Bessie Marsh
BDM Match (93%)	Bertrand Ambrose Moore	Olive Bessie Marsh
	💍 1913/7578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	36	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	13/7356
Consent	William Fairchild, father of bride
Date of Certificate	17 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Arch. G. G. Harper

843

18 November 1913

John Quirk
Victoria May Wertheim

John Quirk
Victoria May Wertheim
💍 1913/6802

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 4 November 1913)

Tobacconist

29
28

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
10 months

Registrar's Office

13/6511

18 November 1913

Deputy Registrar

No	843
Date of Notice	18 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Quirk	Victoria May Wertheim
	💍 1913/6802
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 4 November 1913)
Profession	Tobacconist
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	13/6511
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

844

18 November 1913

Edward Wellesley Wise
Helena Elizabeth Barnes

Edward Wellesley Wise
Helena Elizabeth Barnes
💍 1913/7579

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 8 May 1913)

Storekeeper

23
31

Rona Bay
Days Bay

4 years
3 years

St. James Church

13/7317

18 November 1913

Rev. W. Shirer

No	844
Date of Notice	18 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Wellesley Wise	Helena Elizabeth Barnes
	💍 1913/7579
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 8 May 1913)
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	23	31
Dwelling Place	Rona Bay	Days Bay
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church
Folio	13/7317
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

845

18 November 1913

Lawrence Thornton
Ethel Alice Phipps

Lawrence Thornton
Ethel Alice Phipps
💍 1913/7580

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

30
29

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
10 years

St. Mark's Church

13/7318

18 November 1913

Rev. G. Y. Askew

No	845
Date of Notice	18 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Thornton	Ethel Alice Phipps
	💍 1913/7580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church
Folio	13/7318
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Askew

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).