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 534

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1913 Registrar Gilbert Graham Hodghins

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

246

25 March 1913

Charles Farquharson McNab
Daisy Lena Claridge

Charles Farquharson McNab
Daisy Lena Claridge
💍 1913/1576

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

30
26

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
Life

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

13/1163

25 March 1913

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	246
Date of Notice	25 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Farquharson McNab	Daisy Lena Claridge
	💍 1913/1576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	Life
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	13/1163
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

247

25 March 1913

John Hooper Harvey
Eva Mary Pickering

John Hooper Harvey
Eva Mary Pickering
💍 1913/1721

Widower
Spinster

Schoolmaster

29
23

Petone
Petone

4 days
12 months

Residence of Mr. G. Pickering, 27 Beach St., Petone

13/1201

25 March 1913

Rev. J. J. Lewis

No	247
Date of Notice	25 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hooper Harvey	Eva Mary Pickering
	💍 1913/1721
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	4 days	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. Pickering, 27 Beach St., Petone
Folio	13/1201
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lewis

248

25 March 1913

Norman William Loveridge
Myrtle Frances Hanley

Norman William Loveridge
Myrtle Francis Manley
💍 1913/1705

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
17

Wellington
Wellington

5 weeks
17 years

St. James Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington

13/1117

William Hanley, Father

25 March 1913

Rev. W. Shirer

No	248
Date of Notice	25 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman William Loveridge	Myrtle Frances Hanley
BDM Match (95%)	Norman William Loveridge	Myrtle Francis Manley
	💍 1913/1705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 weeks	17 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington
Folio	13/1117
Consent	William Hanley, Father
Date of Certificate	25 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

249

25 March 1913

Thomas Andrew Parnell
Dorothy Sears Willon-Craig

Thomas Andrew Parnell
Dorothy Sears Wilton-Craig
💍 1913/1606

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

21
18

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
15 years

Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington

13/1193

Ernest Oliver Willon Craig, Father

25 March 1913

Rev. W. S. Potter

No	249
Date of Notice	25 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Andrew Parnell	Dorothy Sears Willon-Craig
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Andrew Parnell	Dorothy Sears Wilton-Craig
	💍 1913/1606
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	13/1193
Consent	Ernest Oliver Willon Craig, Father
Date of Certificate	25 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter

250

25 March 1913

Percy Gay Sorrell
Millie Owen

Percy Caz Sorrell
Millie Owen
💍 1913/1706

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer

30
23

Wellington
Wellington

27 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. W. A. Powell, Antico Street, Melrose

13/1118

25 March 1913

Rev. W. Shirer

No	250
Date of Notice	25 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Gay Sorrell	Millie Owen
BDM Match (94%)	Percy Caz Sorrell	Millie Owen
	💍 1913/1706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	27 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. A. Powell, Antico Street, Melrose
Folio	13/1118
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

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).