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 1329

District of Martinborough Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar Frederick McCallum

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

111

14 April 1914

Harold Guy Didsbury
Euphemia McDougall

Harold Guy Didsbury
Euphemia McDougall
💍 1914/2839

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Manager
Home duties

35
34

Martinborough
Martinborough

3 days
34 years

At the residence of Mrs McDougall, Pirinoa, Martinborough

6691

14 April 1914

Rev. E. G. Wynne Bond

No	111
Date of Notice	14 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Guy Didsbury	Euphemia McDougall
	💍 1914/2839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Manager	Home duties
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Martinborough	Martinborough
Length of Residence	3 days	34 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mrs McDougall, Pirinoa, Martinborough
Folio	6691
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Wynne Bond

112

24 April 1914

James Hugh Wilson
Frances Maud Gillies

James Hugh Tilson
Frances Maude Gillies
💍 1914/2840

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

32
23

Martinborough
Martinborough

22 years
23 years

At the residence of Mr John Gillies, Martinborough

6692

24 April 1914

Rev. E. G. Wynne Bond

No	112
Date of Notice	24 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hugh Wilson	Frances Maud Gillies
BDM Match (95%)	James Hugh Tilson	Frances Maude Gillies
	💍 1914/2840
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Martinborough	Martinborough
Length of Residence	22 years	23 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr John Gillies, Martinborough
Folio	6692
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Wynne Bond

113

21 May 1914

George William Gair
Alma Dorice Elizabeth Leslie

George William Gair
Dorice Elizabeth Alma Lister
💍 1914/9068

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Home duties

25
19

Martinborough
Martinborough

2 years
15 years

At the residence of Mr D. M. Leslie, Martinborough

4138

D. M. Leslie, Father of bride

21 May 1914

Rev. E. C. Tennent

No	113
Date of Notice	21 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Gair	Alma Dorice Elizabeth Leslie
BDM Match (75%)	George William Gair	Dorice Elizabeth Alma Lister
	💍 1914/9068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Home duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Martinborough	Martinborough
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr D. M. Leslie, Martinborough
Folio	4138
Consent	D. M. Leslie, Father of bride
Date of Certificate	21 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Tennent

114

1 June 1914

Herbert Gordon Bloomfield
Lillian Grace Maria Wood

Herbert Gordon Bloomfield
Lillian Grace Maria Wood
💍 1914/637

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Home duties

23
21

Martinborough
Martinborough

18 months
2 months

At the residence of Mr James Archer, Aporua, Martinborough

2528

1 June 1914

Rev. Arthur Hopper

No	114
Date of Notice	1 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Gordon Bloomfield	Lillian Grace Maria Wood
	💍 1914/637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Home duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Martinborough	Martinborough
Length of Residence	18 months	2 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr James Archer, Aporua, Martinborough
Folio	2528
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Hopper

115

20 June 1914

Joseph Alexander Grant
Frances McCallum

Joseph Alexander Grant
Frances McAllum
💍 1914/9067

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

31
25

Martinborough
Martinborough

3 days
9 years

At the residence of Mr F. McCallum, Martinborough

4137

20 June 1914

Rev. E. C. Tennent

No	115
Date of Notice	20 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Alexander Grant	Frances McCallum
BDM Match (94%)	Joseph Alexander Grant	Frances McAllum
	💍 1914/9067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Martinborough	Martinborough
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr F. McCallum, Martinborough
Folio	4137
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Tennent

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).