Intentions to Marry, 1914 Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840455, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1914 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1914a), Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1914b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1914c).

Page 1277

District of Foxton Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar A. Hawke

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

5 January 1914

Charles Piper
Eleanor Catherine Clague

Charles Piper
Eleanor Catherine Clague
💍 1914/7301

Widower
Spinster

Boot & Shoe Clicker
Domestic

41
37

Foxton
Foxton

2 years
1 year

Methodist Parsonage Foxton

1154

5 January 1914

Rev S. Coatsworth

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Piper	Eleanor Catherine Clague
	💍 1914/7301
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Boot & Shoe Clicker	Domestic
Age	41	37
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage Foxton
Folio	1154
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Coatsworth

5 February 1914

James Hubert Wilson
Priscilla Wiley

James Wilson
Priscilla Wiley
💍 1914/6517

Bachelor
Widow

Fisherman
Domestic

67
61

Foxton
Manawatu Heads Foxton

33 years
25 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages Foxton

317

5 February 1914

A. Hawke Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	5 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hubert Wilson	Priscilla Wiley
BDM Match (82%)	James Wilson	Priscilla Wiley
	💍 1914/6517
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic
Age	67	61
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Manawatu Heads Foxton
Length of Residence	33 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Foxton
Folio	317
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1914
Officiating Minister	A. Hawke Registrar

9 February 1914

Hubert John Osbolistone
Mildred Vida Walker

Hubert John Osboldstone
Mildred Vida Walker
💍 1914/7319

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

26
20

Foxton
Foxton

3 days
20 years

Methodist Church Foxton

1156

Matthew Henry Walker father of Bride

9 February 1914

Rev S. Coatsworth

No	3
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert John Osbolistone	Mildred Vida Walker
BDM Match (98%)	Hubert John Osboldstone	Mildred Vida Walker
	💍 1914/7319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Foxton
Folio	1156
Consent	Matthew Henry Walker father of Bride
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Coatsworth

16 February 1914

Leonard Augustus Smith
Rose Edith Hudson

Leonard Augustus Smith
Rose Ethel Dudson
💍 1914/6956

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

23
22

Foxton
Foxton

10 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Church Foxton

966

16 February 1914

Rev Father Dore

No	4
Date of Notice	16 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Augustus Smith	Rose Edith Hudson
BDM Match (85%)	Leonard Augustus Smith	Rose Ethel Dudson
	💍 1914/6956
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	10 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Foxton
Folio	966
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Dore

21 March 1914

George Barnes
Emily Mary Gimblett

George Barnes
Emily Mary Gimblett
💍 1914/7312

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Postmistress

40
35

Rangiotu
Rangiotu

3 days
18 years

Private House of Emily Mary Gimblett Rangiotu

1155

21 March 1914

Rev J. M. Thomson

No	5
Date of Notice	21 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Barnes	Emily Mary Gimblett
	💍 1914/7312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Postmistress
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Rangiotu	Rangiotu
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Private House of Emily Mary Gimblett Rangiotu
Folio	1155
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J. M. Thomson

26 March 1914

Edwin George Roberts
Rosetta Mary Stunell

Edwin George Roberts
Rosetta Mary Stunell
💍 1914/7320

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

31
22

Foxton
Foxton

3 days
4 years

Methodist Church Foxton

1157

28 March 1914

Rev S. Coatsworth

No	6
Date of Notice	26 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin George Roberts	Rosetta Mary Stunell
	💍 1914/7320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Foxton
Folio	1157
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Coatsworth

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).