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 1585

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

211

16 March 1914

Harry Hands
Fanny Hunt

Harry Hands
Fanny Hunt
💍 1914/1851

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

23
36

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
6 years

St Thomas Church, Wellington South

5522

16 March 1914

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	211
Date of Notice	16 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hands	Fanny Hunt
	💍 1914/1851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	23	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	6 years
Marriage Place	St Thomas Church, Wellington South
Folio	5522
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

212

16 March 1914

Arthur Henry Trotter
Agnes Clyde Brown

Arthur Henry Trotter
Agnes Clyde Brown
💍 1914/7252

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

29
29

Petone
Petone

3 days
29 years

Residence of Mr. R. Brown, 34 Hutt Road, Petone

1112

16 March 1914

Rev. J. J. Lewis

No	212
Date of Notice	16 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Trotter	Agnes Clyde Brown
	💍 1914/7252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Brown, 34 Hutt Road, Petone
Folio	1112
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lewis

213

16 March 1914

John Kelly
Laura Boniface

John Kelly
Laura Boniface
💍 1914/7253

Bachelor
Widow (4 December 1909)

Gardener

49
46

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
1 1/2 years

Residence of Mr. J. Kelly, 104 Aro St, Wellington

1113

16 March 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	213
Date of Notice	16 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Kelly	Laura Boniface
	💍 1914/7253
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (4 December 1909)
Profession	Gardener
Age	49	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Kelly, 104 Aro St, Wellington
Folio	1113
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

214

16 March 1914

David Aitken Hamilton
Hilda Ruth Crawford

David Aitken Hamilton
Hilda Ruth Crawford
💍 1914/9632

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Company Manager

26
30

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
Life

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

1024

16 March 1914

Arch. C. C. Harper

No	214
Date of Notice	16 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Aitken Hamilton	Hilda Ruth Crawford
	💍 1914/9632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Company Manager
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	1024
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Arch. C. C. Harper

215

16 March 1914

Ezra Everiss
Mary Edith Masters

Ezra Everiss
Mary Edith Masters
💍 1914/8550

Widower (March 1910)
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

33
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

2294

16 March 1914

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	215
Date of Notice	16 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ezra Everiss	Mary Edith Masters
	💍 1914/8550
Condition	Widower (March 1910)	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	2294
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

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).