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 1311

District of Levin Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar H. H. Cork

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

206

4 April 1914

William Coster Eggelton
Ethel Margaret Pringle

William Coster Eggelton
Ethel Margaret Pringle
💍 1914/629

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Home Duties

34
23

Weraroa
Weraroa

7 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Levin

2545

4 April 1914

Rev. Arthur Cyril Randerson, Presbyterian

No	206
Date of Notice	4 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Coster Eggelton	Ethel Margaret Pringle
	💍 1914/629
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Home Duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Weraroa	Weraroa
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Levin
Folio	2545
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Cyril Randerson, Presbyterian

207

4 April 1914

John William Hayfield
Mildred Maud Louisa Parsons

John William Hayfield
Mildred Maud Louisa Parsons
💍 1914/3032

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher of Music
Domestic Duties

46
22

Levin
Levin

8 years
22 years

Residence of Samuel William Parsons, Kent Street, Levin

6726

4 April 1914

Rev. Francis T. Harris, Methodist

No	207
Date of Notice	4 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Hayfield	Mildred Maud Louisa Parsons
	💍 1914/3032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher of Music	Domestic Duties
Age	46	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	8 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Samuel William Parsons, Kent Street, Levin
Folio	6726
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Francis T. Harris, Methodist

208

8 April 1914

Josiah Harvey
Eveline Walker

Josiah Harvey
Eveline Walker
💍 1914/6445

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker and Builder
Home Duties

42
22

Levin
Levin

5 years
8 years

Methodist Church, Levin

3957

8 April 1914

Rev. George Samuel Cook, Methodist

No	208
Date of Notice	8 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josiah Harvey	Eveline Walker
	💍 1914/6445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker and Builder	Home Duties
Age	42	22
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Levin
Folio	3957
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Samuel Cook, Methodist

209

13 April 1914

Henry John Earle
Melicent Theresa Webb

Henry John Earle
Melicent Theresa Webb
💍 1914/7859

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
20

Levin
Koputaroa

4 Days
20 Days

St Marys Church, Levin

2928

Lewis Robinson Webb, Father

13 April 1914

Rev. Henry Thomas Stealey, Anglican

No	209
Date of Notice	13 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Earle	Melicent Theresa Webb
	💍 1914/7859
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Levin	Koputaroa
Length of Residence	4 Days	20 Days
Marriage Place	St Marys Church, Levin
Folio	2928
Consent	Lewis Robinson Webb, Father
Date of Certificate	13 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Thomas Stealey, Anglican

210

21 April 1914

Charles Thomas Lumber
Margaret Mary McGillycuddy

Charles Thomas Lumber
Margaret Mary McGillicuddy
💍 1914/8756

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
Domestic Duties

24
27

Levin
Ohau

3 Days

St Andrews Church, Levin

2575

21 April 1914

Rev. Father Henry Le Bouteiller, Catholic

No	210
Date of Notice	21 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thomas Lumber	Margaret Mary McGillycuddy
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Thomas Lumber	Margaret Mary McGillicuddy
	💍 1914/8756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Domestic Duties
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Levin	Ohau
Length of Residence	3 Days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Levin
Folio	2575
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Henry Le Bouteiller, Catholic

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).