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 1655

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

556

4 July 1914

Henry Robert Helliwell
Lilian Murphy

Henry Robert Helliwell
Lillian Murphy
💍 1914/2063

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28
28

Wellington
Wellington

27 years
19 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

14/5786

4 July 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	556
Date of Notice	4 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Robert Helliwell	Lilian Murphy
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Robert Helliwell	Lillian Murphy
	💍 1914/2063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	27 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	14/5786
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

557

4 July 1914

James Henry Prockter
Inez Stella Skelhorn

James Henry Prockter
Inez Stella Skelhorn
💍 1914/2062

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Expert

24
18

Wellington
Wellington

15 months
4 years

Residence of Mr. Skelhorn, 114 Ghuznee Street, Wellington

14/5787

Richard Skelhorn, Father

4 July 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	557
Date of Notice	4 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Prockter	Inez Stella Skelhorn
	💍 1914/2062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Expert
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Skelhorn, 114 Ghuznee Street, Wellington
Folio	14/5787
Consent	Richard Skelhorn, Father
Date of Certificate	4 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

558

6 July 1914

Alexander Milne Begg
Laura Kemp

Alexander Milne Begg
Laura Kemp
💍 1914/2010

Divorced Decree absolute 25 June 1914
Widow 26 March 1912

Piano Dealer

43
39

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
6 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

14/5701

6 July 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	558
Date of Notice	6 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Milne Begg	Laura Kemp
	💍 1914/2010
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 25 June 1914	Widow 26 March 1912
Profession	Piano Dealer
Age	43	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	14/5701
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

559

6 July 1914

Orlando Max Adams
Louisa Harriett Sorensen

Orlando Mase Adams
Louisa Harriett Sorensen
💍 1914/2045

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter & Joiner

26
24

Petone
Petone

15 years
15 years

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

14/5769

6 July 1914

Arch. C. C. Harper

No	559
Date of Notice	6 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Orlando Max Adams	Louisa Harriett Sorensen
BDM Match (94%)	Orlando Mase Adams	Louisa Harriett Sorensen
	💍 1914/2045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter & Joiner
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	14/5769
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Arch. C. C. Harper

560

7 July 1914

James Royston Callender
Beatrice Fullerton Stuart-Forbes

James Royston Callender
Beatrice Fullerton Stuart-Forbes
💍 1914/2211

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

30
30

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

8 years
14 years

St. James' Church, Lower Hutt

14/5910

7 July 1914

Rev. A. L. Hansell

No	560
Date of Notice	7 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Royston Callender	Beatrice Fullerton Stuart-Forbes
	💍 1914/2211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	8 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	14/5910
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell

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).