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 1307

District of Hunterville Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar A. J. W. Johnston

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

2 October 1914

Charles Pentney
Wilhelmina Henrietta Bensemann

Charles Pentney
Wilhelmina Henrietta Bensemann
💍 1914/3871

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic

35
33

Waituna West
Waituna West

6 years
30 years

In the residence of Mr H P Clare Waituna West

14/7726

2 October 1914

Thomas Coatsworth

No	9
Date of Notice	2 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Pentney	Wilhelmina Henrietta Bensemann
	💍 1914/3871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Waituna West	Waituna West
Length of Residence	6 years	30 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr H P Clare Waituna West
Folio	14/7726
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Thomas Coatsworth

5 October 1914

Richard John Hammond
Ellen Tunewell Blockler

Richard John Hammond
Ellen Timewell Blackler
💍 1914/3814

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
16

Rata
Sandon Block

16 years
4 years

In the residence of Mr Peter Hammond Rata

14/7694

C. H. Blockler (Father)

5 October 1914

E. G. Evans

No	10
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard John Hammond	Ellen Tunewell Blockler
BDM Match (94%)	Richard John Hammond	Ellen Timewell Blackler
	💍 1914/3814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	16
Dwelling Place	Rata	Sandon Block
Length of Residence	16 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr Peter Hammond Rata
Folio	14/7694
Consent	C. H. Blockler (Father)
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	E. G. Evans

24 October 1914

George Alfred Partridge
Beryl Iris Goodwin

George Alfred Partridge
Beryl Iris Goodwin
💍 1914/3791

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
18

Hunterville
Hunterville

3 days
18 years

In the residence of Mr William Frampton Hunterville

14/7695

Emily S. Goodwin (Mother)

24 October 1914

E. G. Evans

No	11
Date of Notice	24 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alfred Partridge	Beryl Iris Goodwin
	💍 1914/3791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Hunterville
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr William Frampton Hunterville
Folio	14/7695
Consent	Emily S. Goodwin (Mother)
Date of Certificate	24 October 1914
Officiating Minister	E. G. Evans

26 November 1914

John Desert Wills
Winifred Mary Ann Abel

John Desert Wills
Winifred Mary Ann Abel
💍 1914/3813

Bachelor
Spinster

Stablekeeper
Domestic

27
23

Hunterville
Hunterville

1 year
23 years

In the residence of Mr William Abel Hunterville

14/7693

26 November 1914

E. G. Evans

No	12
Date of Notice	26 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Desert Wills	Winifred Mary Ann Abel
	💍 1914/3813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stablekeeper	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Hunterville
Length of Residence	1 year	23 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr William Abel Hunterville
Folio	14/7693
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1914
Officiating Minister	E. G. Evans

8 December 1914

Arthur James Groom
Eliza Whiley Hardy

Arthur James Croom
Eliza Whiley Hardy
💍 1914/5341

Arthur James Hall
Ellen Martha Mary Hardy
💍 1914/440

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Lady's maid

26
29

Hunterville
Hunterville

8 months
3 days

Church of England Hunterville

14/9270

8 December 1914

C. H. Grant Cowen

No	13
Date of Notice	8 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Groom	Eliza Whiley Hardy
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur James Croom	Eliza Whiley Hardy
	💍 1914/5341
BDM Match (60%)	Arthur James Hall	Ellen Martha Mary Hardy
	💍 1914/440
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Lady's maid
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Hunterville
Length of Residence	8 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Hunterville
Folio	14/9270
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1914
Officiating Minister	C. H. Grant Cowen

29 December 1914

Ronald Martin
Olive Mary Howie

Ronald Martin
Olive May Howie
💍 1914/3812

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

36
27

Hunterville
Hunterville

3 days
12 years

In the residence of Mr William Howie Hunterville

14/7692

29 December 1914

E. G. Evans

No	14
Date of Notice	29 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Martin	Olive Mary Howie
BDM Match (97%)	Ronald Martin	Olive May Howie
	💍 1914/3812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Hunterville
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr William Howie Hunterville
Folio	14/7692
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1914
Officiating Minister	E. G. Evans

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).