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 1665

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

606

25 July 1914

Herbert Smallmon Clemens
Maude Alice Standen Mitchell

Herbert Smallmon Clemens
Maude Alice Mitchell
💍 1914/2034

Widower 6 January 1911
Widow 10 February 1912

Labourer

43
40

Petone
Petone

15 months
12 months

Registrar's office Wellington

5709

25 July 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	606
Date of Notice	25 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Smallmon Clemens	Maude Alice Standen Mitchell
BDM Match (86%)	Herbert Smallmon Clemens	Maude Alice Mitchell
	💍 1914/2034
Condition	Widower 6 January 1911	Widow 10 February 1912
Profession	Labourer
Age	43	40
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	15 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Wellington
Folio	5709
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

607

25 July 1914

Albert William McLean
Elspeth Aldie Allardice

Albert William McLean
Elspeth Aldie Allardice
💍 1914/2231

Bachelor
Spinster

House Painter

37
33

Wellington
Wellington

5 weeks
5 weeks

Residence of Mrs. Allardice 41a Central Terrace Kelburne

5906

25 June 1914

Rev. A. C. W. Standage

No	607
Date of Notice	25 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert William McLean	Elspeth Aldie Allardice
	💍 1914/2231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	House Painter
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Allardice 41a Central Terrace Kelburne
Folio	5906
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. W. Standage

608

25 July 1914

Dennis Karanzis
Caroline Isabel Hemsley

Dennis Karantzis
Caroline Isabel Hemsley
💍 1914/5280

Bachelor
Spinster

Restaurant Keeper

23
20

Wellington
Karori

6 years
17 years

St. Mary's Church Karori

9106

Charles Albert Hemsley Father

25 July 1914

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	608
Date of Notice	25 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dennis Karanzis	Caroline Isabel Hemsley
BDM Match (97%)	Dennis Karantzis	Caroline Isabel Hemsley
	💍 1914/5280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Restaurant Keeper
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	6 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Karori
Folio	9106
Consent	Charles Albert Hemsley Father
Date of Certificate	25 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

609

27 July 1914

Ernest Walter Gibbons
Vera Maud Preston

Ernest Walter Gibbons
Vera Maud Preston
💍 1914/2225

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
18

Upper Hutt
Canvastown

2 years
3 days

Residence of Mrs Gibbons Canvas town

5923

No person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent

10 August 1914

Rev. A. S. H. Heron

No	609
Date of Notice	27 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Walter Gibbons	Vera Maud Preston
	💍 1914/2225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Canvastown
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Gibbons Canvas town
Folio	5923
Consent	No person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. H. Heron

610

27 July 1914

Percival Vivian Webber
Jessie Elizabeth Auld

Percival Vivian Webber
Jessie Elizabeth Auld
💍 1914/2193

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
24

Johnsonville
Johnsonville

14 days
Life

Anglican Church Johnsonville

5867

27 July 1914

Rev. F. H. Petrie

No	610
Date of Notice	27 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Vivian Webber	Jessie Elizabeth Auld
	💍 1914/2193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	14 days	Life
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Johnsonville
Folio	5867
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Petrie

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).