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 1590

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

236

23 March 1914

George Wightman Davidson
Edith Isabel Brown

George Wightman Davidson
Edith Mabel Brown
💍 1914/7265

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

44
36

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

8 years
7 years

St James' Church, Lower Hutt

1124

23 March 1914

Rev. J. Jones

No	236
Date of Notice	23 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wightman Davidson	Edith Isabel Brown
BDM Match (94%)	George Wightman Davidson	Edith Mabel Brown
	💍 1914/7265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	44	36
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	8 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St James' Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	1124
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Jones

237

23 March 1914

Henry Hoard
Violet Jean Kirk

Henry Maud
Violet Jean Kirk
💍 1914/7261

Widower 22 September 1909
Spinster

Engine Fitter

40
31

Petone
Petone

3 years
life

Residence of Mr. W. J. Kirk, Britannia St, Petone

1121

23 March 1914

Rev. J. J. Lewis

No	237
Date of Notice	23 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hoard	Violet Jean Kirk
BDM Match (86%)	Henry Maud	Violet Jean Kirk
	💍 1914/7261
Condition	Widower 22 September 1909	Spinster
Profession	Engine Fitter
Age	40	31
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 years	life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. J. Kirk, Britannia St, Petone
Folio	1121
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lewis

238

23 March 1914

Victor Gapes
Phillipa Brooks

Victor Gapes
Phillipa Brooks
💍 1914/7258

Bachelor
Spinster

Quarry Manager

24
22

Northland
Karori

20 years
22 years

St Mary's Church, Karori

1118

23 March 1914

Rev. A. W. H. Compton

No	238
Date of Notice	23 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Gapes	Phillipa Brooks
	💍 1914/7258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Quarry Manager
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Northland	Karori
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Karori
Folio	1118
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. H. Compton

239

23 March 1914

Albert William Simpson
Ellen Rhead Hancock

Albert William Simpson
Ellen Rhead Hancock
💍 1914/6984

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

30
37

Petone
Petone

28 years
5 years

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

994

23 March 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	239
Date of Notice	23 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert William Simpson	Ellen Rhead Hancock
	💍 1914/6984
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	30	37
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	28 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	994
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

240

23 March 1914

Charles Cecil Carter
Henrietta May Liebig

Charles Cecil Carter
Henrietta May Fiebig
💍 1914/7257

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
22 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

1117

23 March 1914

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	240
Date of Notice	23 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Cecil Carter	Henrietta May Liebig
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Cecil Carter	Henrietta May Fiebig
	💍 1914/7257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	1117
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

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).