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 1663

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

596

21 July 1914

Fergus Philip Burn
Elizabeth Annie Pye

Fergus Philip Burn
Elizabeth Annie Pye
💍 1914/2030

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand

21
18

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

14 years
2 years

Registrar's office Wellington

5705

to person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent

5 August 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	596
Date of Notice	21 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fergus Philip Burn	Elizabeth Annie Pye
	💍 1914/2030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	14 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Wellington
Folio	5705
Consent	to person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

597

21 July 1914

William Thomas Hildreth
Elsie Jane Trotter

William Thomas Hildreth
Elsie Jane Trotter
💍 1914/5279

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager

26
22

Karori
Makara

8 years
Life

St Matthew's Church Makara

5105

21 July 1914

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	597
Date of Notice	21 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Hildreth	Elsie Jane Trotter
	💍 1914/5279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Karori	Makara
Length of Residence	8 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church Makara
Folio	5105
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

598

22 July 1914

William Hunter
Elizabeth Ann Saxby

William Hunter
Elizabeth Ann Sanby
💍 1914/2128

Widower 6 August 1912
Widow 13 March 1901

Accountant

47
45

Palmerston North
Wellington

15 years
2 years

Residence of Mr J. Brackenbridge 45 Waripori Street Wellington

5803

22 July 1914

Rev. W. Shirer

No	598
Date of Notice	22 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hunter	Elizabeth Ann Saxby
BDM Match (97%)	William Hunter	Elizabeth Ann Sanby
	💍 1914/2128
Condition	Widower 6 August 1912	Widow 13 March 1901
Profession	Accountant
Age	47	45
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Brackenbridge 45 Waripori Street Wellington
Folio	5803
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

599

23 July 1914

Charles Sage Blake
Annie Margaret Moyse

Charles Sage Blake
Annie Margaret Moyse
💍 1914/2031

Divorced Decree absolute 16 November 1912
Spinster

Advertising Agent

42
33

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
1 year

Registrar's office Wellington

5706

23 July 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	599
Date of Notice	23 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Sage Blake	Annie Margaret Moyse
	💍 1914/2031
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 16 November 1912	Spinster
Profession	Advertising Agent
Age	42	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Wellington
Folio	5706
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

600

23 July 1914

Henry Alfred Dearing
Ethel May Beehag

Henry Alfred Dearing
Ethel May Beehag
💍 1914/2129

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber worker

26
21

Miramar
Kilbirnie

5 years
10 years

St James' Manse Adelaide Road Wellington

5804

23 July 1914

Rev. W. Shirer

No	600
Date of Notice	23 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alfred Dearing	Ethel May Beehag
	💍 1914/2129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber worker
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Miramar	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St James' Manse Adelaide Road Wellington
Folio	5804
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

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).