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 1721

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar J. P. Stanhope

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

878

31 October 1914

Walter Thomas Jenkins
Ruby Florence Bird

Walter Thomas Jenkins
Ruby Florence Bird
💍 1914/4844

Bachelor
Spinster

Car Painter

26
20

Petone
Petone

25 years
8 years

St Augustine's Church, Petone

8664

William Bird, Father

31 October 1914

Rev. G. B. Stephenson

No	878
Date of Notice	31 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Jenkins	Ruby Florence Bird
	💍 1914/4844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Car Painter
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	25 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church, Petone
Folio	8664
Consent	William Bird, Father
Date of Certificate	31 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson

879

31 October 1914

Richard Vernon Abbott
Barbara Graham

Richard Vernon Abbott
Barbara Graham
💍 1914/4842

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker

26
27

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
Life

Chiro Baptist Church, Brooklyn, Wellington

8663

31 October 1914

Rev. W. H. Hinton

No	879
Date of Notice	31 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Vernon Abbott	Barbara Graham
	💍 1914/4842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Chiro Baptist Church, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	8663
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Hinton

880

31 October 1914

Arthur Frank Leach
Ellen Victoria Pearce

Arthur Frank Leach
Ellen Victoria Pearce
💍 1914/9513

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
21

Wellington
Upper Taitville, Wellington

14 months
18 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7041

31 October 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	880
Date of Notice	31 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Frank Leach	Ellen Victoria Pearce
	💍 1914/9513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Upper Taitville, Wellington
Length of Residence	14 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7041
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

881

31 October 1914

Percy George Johnson
Edith Jane Skidmore

Percy George Johnson
Edith Jane McInroe
💍 1914/4845

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

27
29

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
12 months

St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

8665

31 October 1914

Rev. J. A. O'Connell

No	881
Date of Notice	31 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy George Johnson	Edith Jane Skidmore
BDM Match (84%)	Percy George Johnson	Edith Jane McInroe
	💍 1914/4845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	8665
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. O'Connell

882

2 November 1914

John Hall Flockton
Mary Jane Groome

John Hull Flockton
Mary Jane Groome
💍 1914/4785

Widower, 7 June 1908
Widow, 24 January 1902

Storekeeper

51
47

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
5 years

Residence of Mr J. H. Flockton, 106 Wallace Street, Wellington

8633

2 November 1914

Rev. J. Ward

No	882
Date of Notice	2 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hall Flockton	Mary Jane Groome
BDM Match (97%)	John Hull Flockton	Mary Jane Groome
	💍 1914/4785
Condition	Widower, 7 June 1908	Widow, 24 January 1902
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	51	47
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. H. Flockton, 106 Wallace Street, Wellington
Folio	8633
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ward

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).