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 1565

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

111

10 February 1914

Archibald Stormont
Jennie Denby

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastrycook

21
25

Wellington
Petone

9 months
20 years Wellington

Residence of Rev H. Beggs, 12 Tallana Street, Wellington

not solemnised (See RG 1914/207(10))

10 February 1914

Rev. H. Beggs

No	111
Date of Notice	10 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Stormont	Jennie Denby
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastrycook
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	9 months	20 years Wellington
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev H. Beggs, 12 Tallana Street, Wellington
Folio	not solemnised (See RG 1914/207(10))
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

112

10 February 1914

Alexander Moore
Agnes Fleming

Alexander Moore
Agnes Fleming
💍 1914/6980

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

49
41

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. J. Ledger, 5 Ellice Avenue, Wellington

990

10 February 1914

Rev. W. Shirer

No	112
Date of Notice	10 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Moore	Agnes Fleming
	💍 1914/6980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	49	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Ledger, 5 Ellice Avenue, Wellington
Folio	990
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

113

10 February 1914

Percy Richard Workman
Eva Maude Walsh

Percy Richard Workman
Eva Maude Walsh
💍 1914/6981

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
14 years

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

991

10 February 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	113
Date of Notice	10 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Richard Workman	Eva Maude Walsh
	💍 1914/6981
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	991
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

114

10 February 1914

Harry Ross
Adela Mary Adams

Harry Ross
Adela Mary Adams
💍 1914/6982

Widower 18 Sep 1910
Widow 1 May 1911

Butcher

42
21

Wellington
Wellington

34 years
16 years

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

992

10 February 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	114
Date of Notice	10 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Ross	Adela Mary Adams
	💍 1914/6982
Condition	Widower 18 Sep 1910	Widow 1 May 1911
Profession	Butcher
Age	42	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	34 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	992
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

115

10 February 1914

John Morris Griffiths
Olive Magdeline McIntosh

John Morris Griffiths
Olive Magdalene McIntosh
💍 1914/7227

Widower 6 Feb 1912
Spinster

Customs Agent

32
24

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
24 years

St Andrew's Church, Wellington

1087

10 February 1914

Rev. E. R. Harries

No	115
Date of Notice	10 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morris Griffiths	Olive Magdeline McIntosh
BDM Match (96%)	John Morris Griffiths	Olive Magdalene McIntosh
	💍 1914/7227
Condition	Widower 6 Feb 1912	Spinster
Profession	Customs Agent
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church, Wellington
Folio	1087
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harries

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).