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 1559

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Joseph Lissant Palethorpe

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

31 January 1914

William Henry Cooper
Alexena Reid

William Henry Cooper
Alexena Reid
💍 1914/332

Widower 17 April 1907
Widow 24 January 1901

Retired Soldier

37
45

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
1 day (from Brodick Ferry Scotland)

Registrar's Office Wellington

31 January 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	81
Date of Notice	31 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Cooper	Alexena Reid
	💍 1914/332
Condition	Widower 17 April 1907	Widow 24 January 1901
Profession	Retired Soldier
Age	37	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	1 day (from Brodick Ferry Scotland)
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	22
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

31 January 1914

Lewis Alexander Cameron
Alice Johanna Ryan

Lewis Alexander Cameron
Alice Johanna Ryan
💍 1914/9239

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

31
30

Kaiwarawara
Ngaio

31 years
9 years

Sacred Heart Basilica Wellington

4312

31 January 1914

Rev. J. P. M. Hickson

No	82
Date of Notice	31 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Alexander Cameron	Alice Johanna Ryan
	💍 1914/9239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Kaiwarawara	Ngaio
Length of Residence	31 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica Wellington
Folio	4312
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. M. Hickson

31 January 1914

Victor Hyams
Madge Kathleen Nathan

Victor Hyams
Madge Kathleen Nathan
💍 1914/7218

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

26
22

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

The Synagogue The Terrace Wellington

1077

31 January 1914

Rev. H. Van Staveren

No	83
Date of Notice	31 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Hyams	Madge Kathleen Nathan
	💍 1914/7218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	The Synagogue The Terrace Wellington
Folio	1077
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Van Staveren

2 February 1914

James Pridmore
Sarah M'Clathey

James Pridmore
Sarah McClatchey
💍 1914/6995

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

26
35

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
2 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

981

2 February 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	84
Date of Notice	2 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pridmore	Sarah M'Clathey
BDM Match (94%)	James Pridmore	Sarah McClatchey
	💍 1914/6995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	26	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	981
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

2 February 1914

Charles Albert Hodgson
Gladys Evelyn Wilson

Charles Albert Hodgson
Gladys Evelyn Wilson
💍 1914/6996

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

31
23

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs. Peacock 9 Zohrab Street Kilbirnie

982

2 February 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	85
Date of Notice	2 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Albert Hodgson	Gladys Evelyn Wilson
	💍 1914/6996
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Peacock 9 Zohrab Street Kilbirnie
Folio	982
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).