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 1632

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

441

26 May 1914

Francis Ernest Saunderson
Sarah Elizabeth Claydon

Francis Ernest Saunderson
Sarah Elizabeth Clayton
💍 1914/9062

Bachelor
Spinster

Custodian

32
20

Wellington
Wellington

15 years
4 years

Methodist Church, Molesworth Street, Wellington

14/4124

No person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent

9 June 1914

Rev. P. J. Cossum

No	441
Date of Notice	26 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Ernest Saunderson	Sarah Elizabeth Claydon
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Ernest Saunderson	Sarah Elizabeth Clayton
	💍 1914/9062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Custodian
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Molesworth Street, Wellington
Folio	14/4124
Consent	No person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Cossum

442

27 May 1914

Henry Green
Fanny Spindeler

Henry Green
Fanny Spindeler
💍 1914/7637

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker

35
41

Wellington
Wellington

35 years
3 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

14/2002

27 May 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	442
Date of Notice	27 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Green	Fanny Spindeler
	💍 1914/7637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker
Age	35	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	35 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	14/2002
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

443

27 May 1914

Allan Randolph Oxley
Mildred Jane Bowles

Allan Randolph Oxley
Mildred Jane Cowles
💍 1914/8356

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Official

26
29

Te Puke
Khandallah

21 months
2 months

Anglican Church, Khandallah

14/2074

27 May 1914

Rev. H. Fitz-Hilson

No	443
Date of Notice	27 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Randolph Oxley	Mildred Jane Bowles
BDM Match (97%)	Allan Randolph Oxley	Mildred Jane Cowles
	💍 1914/8356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Official
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Te Puke	Khandallah
Length of Residence	21 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Khandallah
Folio	14/2074
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Fitz-Hilson

444

28 May 1914

Donald William Olson
Agnes Paton

Donald William Olson
Agnes Paton
💍 1914/8414

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
27

Maranui
Maranui

2 years
3 years

Residence of Mr. J. Paton, Sutherland Road, Maranui

14/2087

28 May 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	444
Date of Notice	28 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald William Olson	Agnes Paton
	💍 1914/8414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Maranui	Maranui
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Paton, Sutherland Road, Maranui
Folio	14/2087
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

445

28 May 1914

Elwyn Goldsbury
Lucy Bella Bryant

Elwyn Goldsbury
Lucy Bella Bryant
💍 1914/8381

Bachelor
Spinster

Pharmacist & Optician

26
24

Wellington
Ohariu

13 months
24 years

Holy Trinity Church, Ohariu

14/2048

28 May 1914

Rev. H. H. Petrie

No	445
Date of Notice	28 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elwyn Goldsbury	Lucy Bella Bryant
	💍 1914/8381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pharmacist & Optician
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Ohariu
Length of Residence	13 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Ohariu
Folio	14/2048
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Petrie

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).