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 1654

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

551

2 July 1914

Leo Thomas Finnerty
Dorothy Georgie Bell

Leo Thomas Finnerty
Dorothy Georgie Butt
💍 1914/2139

Bachelor
Spinster

Metalworker

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
2 years

St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

5838

2 July 1914

Rev. J. A. O'Connell

No	551
Date of Notice	2 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo Thomas Finnerty	Dorothy Georgie Bell
BDM Match (93%)	Leo Thomas Finnerty	Dorothy Georgie Butt
	💍 1914/2139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metalworker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	5838
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. O'Connell

552

3 July 1914

George Garden Green Boyd
Margaret Urquhart Low

George Garden Green Boyd
Margaret Urquhart Low
💍 1914/5237

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

32
29

Kelburne
Kelburne

7 years
7 years

Methodist Manse, 17 Goring Street, Wellington

9163

3 July 1914

Rev. G. S. Cook

No	552
Date of Notice	3 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Garden Green Boyd	Margaret Urquhart Low
	💍 1914/5237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Kelburne	Kelburne
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Manse, 17 Goring Street, Wellington
Folio	9163
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Cook

553

3 July 1914

John Thomas Kelman
Alice Whittleston

John Thomas Kelman
Alice Whittleston
💍 1914/2177

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

26
32

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
3 months

Residence of Mr. Mazengarb, 186 Abel Smith Street, Wellington

5899

3 July 1914

Rev. A. J. Brainsby

No	553
Date of Notice	3 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Kelman	Alice Whittleston
	💍 1914/2177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	26	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Mazengarb, 186 Abel Smith Street, Wellington
Folio	5899
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Brainsby

554

3 July 1914

Edward John Bethell
Mary Evangeline Blackmore Tattle

Edward John Bethell
Mary Evangeline Blackmore Tattle
💍 1914/2201

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

33
35

Wellington
Wellington

33 years
35 years

Residence of Mr. G. Tattle, 18 Kent Terrace, Wellington

5874

3 July 1914

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	554
Date of Notice	3 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Bethell	Mary Evangeline Blackmore Tattle
	💍 1914/2201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	33 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. Tattle, 18 Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	5874
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

555

3 July 1914

Henry McKenney
Martha McGiness

Henry McKenney
Martha McGiness
💍 1914/2002

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
12 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

5700

3 July 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	555
Date of Notice	3 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry McKenney	Martha McGiness
	💍 1914/2002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	5700
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).