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 1574

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

156

23 February 1914

James Corkery
Hannah Mulcahy

James Corkery
Hannah Mulcahy
💍 1914/9242

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman

25
29

Kaiwarra
Wellington

7 months
7 months

Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington

4315

23 February 1914

Rev. J. P. M. Hickson

No	156
Date of Notice	23 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Corkery	Hannah Mulcahy
	💍 1914/9242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Kaiwarra	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington
Folio	4315
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. M. Hickson

157

23 February 1914

Bert Albert Winter
Anna Stace King

Bert Albert Winter
Annie Stacey King
💍 1914/7234

Bachelor
Spinster

Ladder Maker

29
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
2 years

St Andrew's Church, Wellington

1094

23 February 1914

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	157
Date of Notice	23 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bert Albert Winter	Anna Stace King
BDM Match (91%)	Bert Albert Winter	Annie Stacey King
	💍 1914/7234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ladder Maker
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church, Wellington
Folio	1094
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

158

23 February 1914

James Henry Sandford
Ethel Mary Churchouse

James Henry Sandford
Ethel Mary Churchouse
💍 1914/7238

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman

27
22

Petone
Petone

3 days
1 month

Presbyterian Church, Petone

1097

23 February 1914

Rev. A. Thomson

No	158
Date of Notice	23 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Sandford	Ethel Mary Churchouse
	💍 1914/7238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Petone
Folio	1097
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

159

23 February 1914

James Michael Madigan
Ruby Florence Owens

James Michael Madigan
Ruby Florence Owens
💍 1914/348

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanist

32
25

Wellington
Wellington

Life
12 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

23 February 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	159
Date of Notice	23 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Michael Madigan	Ruby Florence Owens
	💍 1914/348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanist
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	39
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

160

23 February 1914

Bernard Meyer
Louise Ellen Mummery

Bernard Meyer
Louise Ellen Mummery
💍 1914/9641

Widower 22 Oct 1912
Spinster

Stevedore

61
45

Wellington
Wellington

35 years
2 years

St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

1010

23 February 1914

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	160
Date of Notice	23 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Meyer	Louise Ellen Mummery
	💍 1914/9641
Condition	Widower 22 Oct 1912	Spinster
Profession	Stevedore
Age	61	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	35 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	1010
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

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).