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 683

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

961

23 December 1913

Henry Frederick Norris
Lena Bedell

Henry Frederick Norris
Lena Bedell
💍 1913/7660

Widower, April 1905
Widow, December 1903

Retired Government Messenger

78
66

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
41 years

Residence of M. Munn, 3 Broomhedge Street, Wellington

13/7416

23 December 1913

M. O. Johnston

No	961
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Frederick Norris	Lena Bedell
	💍 1913/7660
Condition	Widower, April 1905	Widow, December 1903
Profession	Retired Government Messenger
Age	78	66
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	41 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. Munn, 3 Broomhedge Street, Wellington
Folio	13/7416
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	M. O. Johnston

962

23 December 1913

John Henry Beavon
Nellie Wheeler Wood

John Henry Beavon
Nellie Wheeler Wood
💍 1914/7187

Bachelor
Spinster

Boxmaker

24
19

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
5 years

St. James Church

Cecilia Harvey, Mother

23 December 1913

Rev. W. Shirer

No	962
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Beavon	Nellie Wheeler Wood
	💍 1914/7187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boxmaker
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church
Folio
Consent	Cecilia Harvey, Mother
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

963

23 December 1913

Harold Purnell Wincott
Gertrude Williams

Harold Purnell Wincott
Gertrude Williams
💍 1914/7191

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

32
32

Wellington
Wadestown

2 years
10 days

St. Luke's Church

23 December 1913

Rev. J. G. S. Bartlett

No	963
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Purnell Wincott	Gertrude Williams
	💍 1914/7191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wadestown
Length of Residence	2 years	10 days
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. S. Bartlett

964

23 December 1913

John Williams Standidge
Ellen Sarah Standidge

John Williams
Ellen Sarah Standidge
💍 1913/9089

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

39
37

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
16 years

St. Andrew's Manse

13/8649

23 December 1913

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	964
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Williams Standidge	Ellen Sarah Standidge
BDM Match (78%)	John Williams	Ellen Sarah Standidge
	💍 1913/9089
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	39	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Manse
Folio	13/8649
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

965

23 December 1913

John Langridge
Margaret Keefe

John Langridge
Margaret Keefe
💍 1914/7192

Bachelor
Divorced, Decree Absolute 26 May 1902

Curator, Zoological Gardens

38
35

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
35 years

Residence of Mr. Sexton, 97 Daniel Street, Wellington

23 December 1913

Rev. J. Ward

No	965
Date of Notice	23 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Langridge	Margaret Keefe
	💍 1914/7192
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced, Decree Absolute 26 May 1902
Profession	Curator, Zoological Gardens
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Sexton, 97 Daniel Street, Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ward

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).