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 1588

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

226

19 March 1914

William Gudsell Grindrod commonly known as Alfred William Grindrod
Ivy Ruth Smith

Alfred William Grindrod
Ivy Ruth Smith
💍 1914/7268

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

31
21

Wellington
Wellington

17 years
4 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street

1127

19 March 1914

Rev. J. Southern

No	226
Date of Notice	19 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gudsell Grindrod commonly known as Alfred William Grindrod	Ivy Ruth Smith
BDM Match (67%)	Alfred William Grindrod	Ivy Ruth Smith
	💍 1914/7268
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street
Folio	1127
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Southern

227

19 March 1914

Thomas Edward Lionel Eastabrook
Davina Agnes Sutherland

Thomas Edward Lionel Eastabrook
Darina Agnes Sutherland
💍 1914/9635

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

24
25

Wellington
Ngaio

9 years
4 days

Residence of Mr. C. Eastabrook, 10 Boston Terrace, Wellington

1027

19 March 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	227
Date of Notice	19 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Lionel Eastabrook	Davina Agnes Sutherland
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Edward Lionel Eastabrook	Darina Agnes Sutherland
	💍 1914/9635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Ngaio
Length of Residence	9 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. Eastabrook, 10 Boston Terrace, Wellington
Folio	1027
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

228

20 March 1914

Samuel Henry Francis Bereman-Dyson
Winifred Maud Charlotte Banks

Samuel Henry Francis Bereman-Dyson
Winifred Maud Charlotte Banks
💍 1914/373

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington

20 March 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	228
Date of Notice	20 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Henry Francis Bereman-Dyson	Winifred Maud Charlotte Banks
	💍 1914/373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	64
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

229

20 March 1914

Percy Ramsay
Clara McGarry

Percy Ramsay
Clara McGlarry
💍 1914/374

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

30
23

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

20 March 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	229
Date of Notice	20 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Ramsay	Clara McGarry
BDM Match (96%)	Percy Ramsay	Clara McGlarry
	💍 1914/374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	65
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

230

20 March 1914

Harold Vincent Geddis
Hilda Geraldine Douglas Sherriff

Harold Vincent Geddis
Hilda Geraldine Douglas Sherriff
💍 1914/1852

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
23

Wellington
Lyall Bay

14 years
23 years

St Thomas' Church, Wellington

5533

20 March 1914

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	230
Date of Notice	20 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Vincent Geddis	Hilda Geraldine Douglas Sherriff
	💍 1914/1852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lyall Bay
Length of Residence	14 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Thomas' Church, Wellington
Folio	5533
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

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).