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 1716

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

853

21 October 1914

Leonard John Kelph
Eleanor Sarah Johnson

Leonard John Ralph
Eleanor Sarah Johnson
💍 1914/6477

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

34
25

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
3 weeks

St. Thomas Church, Wellington South

9234

21 October 1914

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	853
Date of Notice	21 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard John Kelph	Eleanor Sarah Johnson
BDM Match (94%)	Leonard John Ralph	Eleanor Sarah Johnson
	💍 1914/6477
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Church, Wellington South
Folio	9234
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

854

22 October 1914

William John Hardyment
Zoe Coppins

William John Hardyment
Yoe Coppins
💍 1914/5330

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
12 years

St. Thomas Church, Wellington

9233

22 October 1914

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	854
Date of Notice	22 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Hardyment	Zoe Coppins
BDM Match (95%)	William John Hardyment	Yoe Coppins
	💍 1914/5330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Church, Wellington
Folio	9233
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

855

23 October 1914

Percy Johnson
Ethel Isabel William

Percy Johnson
Ethel Isabel Williams
💍 1914/5329

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpet Planner

37
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
7 days

St. Cuthberts Church Room, Palm Grove, Wellington

9232

23 October 1914

Rev. W. H. Walton

No	855
Date of Notice	23 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Johnson	Ethel Isabel William
BDM Match (98%)	Percy Johnson	Ethel Isabel Williams
	💍 1914/5329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpet Planner
Age	37	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Cuthberts Church Room, Palm Grove, Wellington
Folio	9232
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Walton

856

23 October 1914

William Alexander Evans
Rose Ellen Salmon

William Alexander Evans
Rose Ellen Calnon
💍 1914/9531

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

10 months
4 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7035

23 October 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	856
Date of Notice	23 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Evans	Rose Ellen Salmon
BDM Match (94%)	William Alexander Evans	Rose Ellen Calnon
	💍 1914/9531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7035
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

857

23 October 1914

Arthur William John Colgate
Marion Burns Smith

Arthur William John Colgate
Marion Burns Smith
💍 1914/4820

Bachelor
Spinster

Bread baker

32
36

Wellington
Brooklyn

7 years
3 years

Presbyterian Manse, Sugar Loaf Road, Brooklyn

8692

23 October 1914

Rev. B. Hutson

No	857
Date of Notice	23 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William John Colgate	Marion Burns Smith
	💍 1914/4820
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bread baker
Age	32	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Sugar Loaf Road, Brooklyn
Folio	8692
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Hutson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).