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 643

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

766

16 October 1913

Henry John Gavill
Annie Dolley

Henry John Cavill
Annie Polley
💍 1913/7554

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter, Joiner

31
20

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
9 years

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

13/729

Mary Polley, mother

16 October 1913

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	766
Date of Notice	16 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Gavill	Annie Dolley
BDM Match (93%)	Henry John Cavill	Annie Polley
	💍 1913/7554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter, Joiner
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	13/729
Consent	Mary Polley, mother
Date of Certificate	16 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

767

16 October 1913

John Daley
Helena May Way

John Daley
Helena May Day
💍 1913/9157

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

42
32

Seatoun
Seatoun

7 days
2 weeks

St. George's Church Room, Seatoun

8836

16 October 1913

Rev. J. G. Castle

No	767
Date of Notice	16 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Daley	Helena May Way
BDM Match (96%)	John Daley	Helena May Day
	💍 1913/9157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Seatoun	Seatoun
Length of Residence	7 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. George's Church Room, Seatoun
Folio	8836
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Castle

768

18 October 1913

James Matthew O'Reilly
Nellie Blanche May Plummer

James Matthew O'Reilly
Nellie Blanche May Plummer
💍 1913/6761

Bachelor
Spinster

Customs Officer

35
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

13/649

18 October 1913

Deputy Registrar

No	768
Date of Notice	18 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Matthew O'Reilly	Nellie Blanche May Plummer
	💍 1913/6761
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Customs Officer
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	13/649
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

769

18 October 1913

George Theodore Poole
Gladys Pearl Branigan

George Theodore Foote
Gladys Pearl Branigan
💍 1913/8498

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
22

Wellington
Wellington South

11 years
22 years

St. Anne's Church, Wellington South

8215

18 October 1913

Rev. T. Neeves

No	769
Date of Notice	18 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Theodore Poole	Gladys Pearl Branigan
BDM Match (95%)	George Theodore Foote	Gladys Pearl Branigan
	💍 1913/8498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington South
Length of Residence	11 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church, Wellington South
Folio	8215
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Neeves

770

20 October 1913

William Egmont Broderick
Myrtle Mary Winks

William Egmont Broderick
Myrtle Mary Winks
💍 1913/7646

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
23

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
1 day

St. John's Church, Wellington

13/739

20 October 1913

Rev. J. Gibb

No	770
Date of Notice	20 October 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Egmont Broderick	Myrtle Mary Winks
	💍 1913/7646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	1 day
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	13/739
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

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).