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 1569

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

131

16 February 1914

James Frederick Thompson
Ryda Mary Thornton

James Frederick Thompson
Ryda Mary Thornton
💍 1914/9628

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

29
23

Greytown
Wellington

1 year
6 years

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

1021

16 February 1914

Archdeacon C. C. Harper

No	131
Date of Notice	16 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Frederick Thompson	Ryda Mary Thornton
	💍 1914/9628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	1021
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon C. C. Harper

132

16 February 1914

Frank Murdock Tofts
Priscilla Smith

Frank Murdock Tofts
Priscilla Smith
💍 1914/6983

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

30
21

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
7 years

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

993

16 February 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	132
Date of Notice	16 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Murdock Tofts	Priscilla Smith
	💍 1914/6983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	993
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

133

16 February 1914

Samuel Nelson
Ruthy Helliwell Stanton

Samuel Nelson
Ruth Helliwell Stanton
💍 1914/7195

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool classer

33
23

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Island Bay

1031

16 February 1914

Rev. W. Shirer

No	133
Date of Notice	16 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Nelson	Ruthy Helliwell Stanton
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Nelson	Ruth Helliwell Stanton
	💍 1914/7195
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool classer
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Island Bay
Folio	1031
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

134

17 February 1914

Thomas Duignan
Maud Warren

Thomas Duignan
Maud Warren
💍 1914/7314

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

28 years
2 years

St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

1175

17 February 1914

Rev. J. Tymons

No	134
Date of Notice	17 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Duignan	Maud Warren
	💍 1914/7314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	28 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	1175
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Tymons

135

17 February 1914

Thomas Mark
Daisy Kneale Shapcott

Thomas Mark
Daisy Kneale Shapcott
💍 1914/7270

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
14 years

St Anne's Church, Northland

1106

17 February 1914

Rev. J. G. S. Bartlett

No	135
Date of Notice	17 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mark	Daisy Kneale Shapcott
	💍 1914/7270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Anne's Church, Northland
Folio	1106
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. S. Bartlett

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).