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 1943

District of Takaka Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar George Haynes Morrish

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

13 July 1914

Walter Coppell
Betsy Ann Winter

Walter Coppell
Betsy Ann Winter
💍 1914/2276

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic

32
34

Motupipi
Motupipi

32 years
34 years

Private Residence of Bridegroom's Parents, Motupipi

14/5999

13 July 1914

Rev. F. J. Daynes

No	4
Date of Notice	13 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Coppell	Betsy Ann Winter
	💍 1914/2276
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Motupipi	Motupipi
Length of Residence	32 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Bridegroom's Parents, Motupipi
Folio	14/5999
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Daynes

13 July 1914

Thomas Oliver Anderson
Muriel Agnes Jessie Allan

Thomas Oliver Anderson
Muriel Agnes Jessie Allan
💍 1914/2296

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic duties

29
24

Takaka
Collingwood

3 years
24 years

Church of England, Collingwood

14/5944

13 July 1914

Rev. W. H. Stych

No	5
Date of Notice	13 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Oliver Anderson	Muriel Agnes Jessie Allan
	💍 1914/2296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Takaka	Collingwood
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Collingwood
Folio	14/5944
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Stych

25 July 1914

Herbert Francis Newlove
Essie Lavinia Solly

Herbert Francis Newlove
Effie Lavinia Solly
💍 1914/2275

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

26
19

Takaka
Takaka

26 years
19 years

Church of England, Takaka

14/5998

William Solly, Father of the Bride

27 July 1914

Rev. F. J. Daynes

No	6
Date of Notice	25 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Francis Newlove	Essie Lavinia Solly
BDM Match (95%)	Herbert Francis Newlove	Effie Lavinia Solly
	💍 1914/2275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Takaka	Takaka
Length of Residence	26 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Takaka
Folio	14/5998
Consent	William Solly, Father of the Bride
Date of Certificate	27 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Daynes

11 August 1914

Henry Lewis Stovell Frank
Eliza Martha Hambrook

Henry Lewis Stovell Frank
Eliza Martha Hambrook
💍 1914/2274

Bachelor
Spinster

Drill Instructor
Domestic duties

33
21

Kaiapoi
Takaka

5 days
21 years

Private Residence of Joseph Hambrook, Rototai, Takaka

14/5997

11 August 1914

Rev. F. J. Daynes

No	7
Date of Notice	11 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lewis Stovell Frank	Eliza Martha Hambrook
	💍 1914/2274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drill Instructor	Domestic duties
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Takaka
Length of Residence	5 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Joseph Hambrook, Rototai, Takaka
Folio	14/5997
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Daynes

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).