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 909

District of Grey Quarter ending 31 December 1913 Registrar Benjamin Harper

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

28 November 1913

James McAulay
Dora Ainley Clara Hahn

James McAulay
Dora Emily Clara Hahn
💍 1913/7915

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

32
19

Kokiri
Kokiri

6 years
19 years

Residence of John Hahn, Kokiri

13/7680

John Hahn, Father

28 November 1913

Rev. George Arthur Grossman

No	69
Date of Notice	28 November 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McAulay	Dora Ainley Clara Hahn
BDM Match (91%)	James McAulay	Dora Emily Clara Hahn
	💍 1913/7915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Kokiri	Kokiri
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Hahn, Kokiri
Folio	13/7680
Consent	John Hahn, Father
Date of Certificate	28 November 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Arthur Grossman

4 December 1913

Miles Baker
Maude Mary Walsh

Iles Baker
Maude Mary Walsh
💍 1913/7805

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Insurance Agent

25
23

Greymouth
Greymouth

2 years 7 months
10 years

Holy Trinity Church

13/7595

4 December 1913

Rev. Archdeacon York

No	70
Date of Notice	4 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Miles Baker	Maude Mary Walsh
BDM Match (91%)	Iles Baker	Maude Mary Walsh
	💍 1913/7805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Insurance Agent
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	2 years 7 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	13/7595
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon York

11 December 1913

Lorrain Tempest Hall
Catherine Amelia Thompson

Lorrain Tempest Hall
Catherine Amelia Thompson
💍 1913/8938

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Laundress

29
22

Greymouth
Greymouth

7 years
10 years

St. Patrick's Church

8318

11 December 1913

Very Rev. Dean H. P. Carew

No	71
Date of Notice	11 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lorrain Tempest Hall	Catherine Amelia Thompson
	💍 1913/8938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Laundress
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church
Folio	8318
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean H. P. Carew

15 December 1913

Benjamin Richards
Lillian Gray Penhalluriack

Benjamin Richards
Lillian Grayson Penhalluriack
💍 1913/7786

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
White Worker

25
25

Kumara
Runanga

15 years
2 years 8 months

St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth

13/7600

15 December 1913

Rev. A. Ashcroft

No	72
Date of Notice	15 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Richards	Lillian Gray Penhalluriack
BDM Match (95%)	Benjamin Richards	Lillian Grayson Penhalluriack
	💍 1913/7786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	White Worker
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Runanga
Length of Residence	15 years	2 years 8 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth
Folio	13/7600
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Ashcroft

17 December 1913

Edward Frank Guinness
Ida Mildred Armstrong

Edward Frank Guinness
Ida Mildred Armstrong
💍 1913/7806

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

39
26

Greymouth
Greymouth

26 years
1 year

Holy Trinity Church

13/7596

17 December 1913

Archdeacon York

No	73
Date of Notice	17 December 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Frank Guinness	Ida Mildred Armstrong
	💍 1913/7806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	26 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	13/7596
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1913
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon York

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).