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 1279

District of Foxton Quarter ending 30 June 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

6 April 1914

Stanley James Pearce
Maude Alice Smith

Stanley James Pearce
Maude Alice Newth
💍 1914/623

Bachelor
Spinster

Flax hand
Domestic

25
21

Moutoa
Foxton

6 years
21 years

Anglican Church, Foxton

2538

6 April 1914

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	7
Date of Notice	6 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley James Pearce	Maude Alice Smith
BDM Match (91%)	Stanley James Pearce	Maude Alice Newth
	💍 1914/623
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flax hand	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Moutoa	Foxton
Length of Residence	6 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Foxton
Folio	2538
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

11 April 1914

Edgar Redpath
Mary Jane Louisa Cook

Edgar Redpath
Mary Jane Louisa Cook
💍 1914/621

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent
Domestic

35
30

Foxton
Foxton

4 years
17 years

All Saints Church, Foxton

2536

11 April 1914

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	8
Date of Notice	11 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Redpath	Mary Jane Louisa Cook
	💍 1914/621
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent	Domestic
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	4 years	17 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Foxton
Folio	2536
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

14 April 1914

Keith Campbell McKenzie
Florence Maude Hawke

Keith Campbell McKenzie
Florence Maude Hawke
💍 1914/622

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Expert
Domestic

26
21

Foxton
Foxton

3 days
4 months

All Saints Church, Foxton

2537

14 April 1914

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	9
Date of Notice	14 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Keith Campbell McKenzie	Florence Maude Hawke
	💍 1914/622
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Expert	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Foxton
Folio	2537
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

14 April 1914

Hector Munro Puflett
Alice Blanche Cook

Hector Munroe Puflett
Alice Blanche Cook
💍 1914/624

Widower
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

28
32

Foxton
Foxton

1 day
7 days

Church of England, Foxton

2539

14 April 1914

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	10
Date of Notice	14 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Munro Puflett	Alice Blanche Cook
BDM Match (98%)	Hector Munroe Puflett	Alice Blanche Cook
	💍 1914/624
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	1 day	7 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Foxton
Folio	2539
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

26 May 1914

William Stanley Shirtcliffe
Norah Eskdale Kerr Hislop

William Stanley Shirtcliffs
Norah Eskdale Kerr Hislop
💍 1914/625

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant's Clerk
Domestic

24
21

Foxton
Foxton

1 day
8 months

All Saints Church, Foxton

2540

26 May 1914

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	11
Date of Notice	26 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stanley Shirtcliffe	Norah Eskdale Kerr Hislop
BDM Match (98%)	William Stanley Shirtcliffs	Norah Eskdale Kerr Hislop
	💍 1914/625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant's Clerk	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	1 day	8 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Foxton
Folio	2540
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

27 May 1914

Alfred Evans
Meta Russ Cummerfield

Alfred Evans
Nesta Russ Cummerfield
💍 1914/636

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

34
25

Foxton
Foxton

10 years
25 years

Methodist Church, Foxton

2543

27 May 1914

Rev. W. G. Maslin

No	12
Date of Notice	27 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Evans	Meta Russ Cummerfield
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred Evans	Nesta Russ Cummerfield
	💍 1914/636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	10 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Foxton
Folio	2543
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Maslin

4 June 1914

Edwin Walker
Ellen Cooper

Edwin Walker
Ellen Cooper
💍 1914/627

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic

24
21

Foxton
Foxton

24 years
12 years

Methodist Church, Foxton

2542

4 June 1914

Rev. W. G. Maslin

No	13
Date of Notice	4 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Walker	Ellen Cooper
	💍 1914/627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	24 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Foxton
Folio	2542
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Maslin

10 June 1914

Daniel Ellwood
Isabel Mary Small

Daniel Elwood
Isabel Mary Small
💍 1914/626

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

22
21

Foxton
Foxton

3 years
21 years

All Saints Church, Foxton

2541

10 June 1914

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	14
Date of Notice	10 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Ellwood	Isabel Mary Small
BDM Match (96%)	Daniel Elwood	Isabel Mary Small
	💍 1914/626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Foxton
Folio	2541
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

29 June 1914

James Hurley
Bridget Curran

James Hurley
Bridget Curran
💍 1914/3093

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

48
42

Foxton
Foxton

24 years
1 year

St Mary's Catholic Church, Foxton

6841

29 June 1914

Father Dore

No	15
Date of Notice	29 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hurley	Bridget Curran
	💍 1914/3093
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	48	42
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	24 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St Mary's Catholic Church, Foxton
Folio	6841
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Father Dore

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).