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 1594

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

256

27 March 1914

Frank Norman Cook
Florence Allery Hitchingman

Frank Norman Cook
Florence Allery Kitchingman
💍 1914/9019

Bachelor
Spinster

Exchange Salesman

28
26

Wellington
Rahotu

28 years
13 years

Residence of Mr. Hitchingman, Rahotu

4089

27 March 1914

Rev. T. W. Featherstone

No	256
Date of Notice	27 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Norman Cook	Florence Allery Hitchingman
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Norman Cook	Florence Allery Kitchingman
	💍 1914/9019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Exchange Salesman
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Rahotu
Length of Residence	28 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Hitchingman, Rahotu
Folio	4089
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Featherstone

257

27 March 1914

Charles Oakley Clarke
Edythe Lillian Morrison

Charles Oakley Clarke
Edythe Lillian Morrison
💍 1914/381

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22
21

Petone
Island Bay

10 weeks
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington

27 March 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	257
Date of Notice	27 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Oakley Clarke	Edythe Lillian Morrison
	💍 1914/381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Island Bay
Length of Residence	10 weeks	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	71
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

258

27 March 1914

Arundel Harry Smith
Martha Rachel Shepherd

Arundel Harry Smith
Martha Rachel Shepherd
💍 1914/7267

Divorced absolute 13 March 1914
Divorced Decree absolute 27 March 1914

Labourer

36
43

Petone
Petone

12 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. W. Franklin, 13 Richmond Street, Petone

1126

27 March 1914

Rev. J. J. Lewis

No	258
Date of Notice	27 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arundel Harry Smith	Martha Rachel Shepherd
	💍 1914/7267
Condition	Divorced absolute 13 March 1914	Divorced Decree absolute 27 March 1914
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	43
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	12 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Franklin, 13 Richmond Street, Petone
Folio	1126
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lewis

259

28 March 1914

Francis Christopher Whetton
Bessie Eliza Poole

Francis Christopher Whetton
Bessie Eliza Poole
💍 1914/8441

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

26
23

Karori
Karori

5 weeks
15 months

Anglican Church, Karori

2135

28 March 1914

Rev. A. L. Hansell

No	259
Date of Notice	28 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Christopher Whetton	Bessie Eliza Poole
	💍 1914/8441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori
Length of Residence	5 weeks	15 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Karori
Folio	2135
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell

260

28 March 1914

Percy Tivy Emerson
Lilian Adeline Kissel

Percy Tivy Emerson
Lilian Adeline Kissel
💍 1914/382

Bachelor
Spinster

Meat Inspector

34
31

Wellington
Christchurch

3 months
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington

28 March 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	260
Date of Notice	28 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Tivy Emerson	Lilian Adeline Kissel
	💍 1914/382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Meat Inspector
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	72
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 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).