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 1975

District of Grey Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar Ernest White Cave

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

1 July 1914

Robert Daggart
Margaret Gallaher Devine

Robert McTaggart
Margaret Gallaher Devine
💍 1914/2328

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

23
19

Runanga
Runanga

5 years
5 years

Residence of Joseph Gallaher Devine, Mills St, Runanga

6029

Joseph Gallaher Devine, father

1 July 1914

Rev. Moses Ayrton

No	41
Date of Notice	1 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Daggart	Margaret Gallaher Devine
BDM Match (91%)	Robert McTaggart	Margaret Gallaher Devine
	💍 1914/2328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Runanga	Runanga
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Joseph Gallaher Devine, Mills St, Runanga
Folio	6029
Consent	Joseph Gallaher Devine, father
Date of Certificate	1 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Moses Ayrton

1 July 1914

Thomas Edward McIntosh
Margaret Ada Brooks

Thomas Edward McIntosh
Margaret Ada Brooks
💍 1914/2411

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker
Domestic

26
24

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 months
2 months

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

6011

1 July 1914

Ven. Archdeacon G. W. York

No	42
Date of Notice	1 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward McIntosh	Margaret Ada Brooks
	💍 1914/2411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	6011
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon G. W. York

6 July 1914

William Fairley
Olive Spence

William Fairley
Olive Spence
💍 1914/2410

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand
Domestic

33
23

Ruatapu
Greymouth

3 days
5 years

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

6010

6 July 1914

Ven. Archdeacon York

No	43
Date of Notice	6 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Fairley	Olive Spence
	💍 1914/2410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand	Domestic
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Ruatapu	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	6010
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon York

14 July 1914

James Hazeldine
Elida Florence Curtis

James Hazeldine
Elida Florence Curtis
💍 1914/5271

Bachelor
Spinster

General Carrier
Domestic

29
22

Greymouth
Greymouth

11 years
7 years

St John's Presbyterian Church, Greymouth

9120

14 July 1914

Rev. William Trotter

No	44
Date of Notice	14 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hazeldine	Elida Florence Curtis
	💍 1914/5271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	General Carrier	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	11 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church, Greymouth
Folio	9120
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Trotter

22 July 1914

Herbert James Gillett
Margaret Williams

Herbert James Billett
Margaret Williams
💍 1914/2433

Robert James Gibbs
Mary Ethel Williams
💍 1914/2944

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic

33
20

Greymouth
Cobden

6 years
20 years

Church of the Resurrection, Cobden

6009

William Williams, father

22 July 1914

Archdeacon York

No	45
Date of Notice	22 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Gillett	Margaret Williams
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert James Billett	Margaret Williams
	💍 1914/2433
BDM Match (65%)	Robert James Gibbs	Mary Ethel Williams
	💍 1914/2944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Cobden
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Resurrection, Cobden
Folio	6009
Consent	William Williams, father
Date of Certificate	22 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon York

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).