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 1570

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

136

17 February 1914

James William Higgins
Margaret Turner

James William Higgins
Margaret Turner
💍 1914/7247

Widower 2 October 1907
Widow 4 August 1910

Labourer

38
34

Miramar
Miramar

3 days
3 years

Residence of Mrs. Anderson, Miramar

1083

17 February 1914

Rev. J. Bain

No	136
Date of Notice	17 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Higgins	Margaret Turner
	💍 1914/7247
Condition	Widower 2 October 1907	Widow 4 August 1910
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	34
Dwelling Place	Miramar	Miramar
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Anderson, Miramar
Folio	1083
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bain

137

17 February 1914

John Marshall Savidge
Lily Isabella Anderson Parsloe

John Marshall Davidge
Lily Isabella Anderson Parsloe
💍 1914/7250

Widower 9 October 1913
Spinster

Watchmaker

41
31

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. J. M. Savidge, 124 Riddiford Street, Wellington

1086

17 February 1914

Rev. J. Ward

No	137
Date of Notice	17 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Marshall Savidge	Lily Isabella Anderson Parsloe
BDM Match (98%)	John Marshall Davidge	Lily Isabella Anderson Parsloe
	💍 1914/7250
Condition	Widower 9 October 1913	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	41	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. M. Savidge, 124 Riddiford Street, Wellington
Folio	1086
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ward

138

17 February 1914

Ernest Harold Sutton
Olive Franklyn

Ernest Harold Sutton
Olive Franklyn
💍 1914/7230

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
25

Karori
Kilbirnie

11 years
5 years

All Saints Church, Kilbirnie

1090

17 February 1914

Rev. H. G. Blackburne

No	138
Date of Notice	17 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Harold Sutton	Olive Franklyn
	💍 1914/7230
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Karori	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	11 years	5 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Kilbirnie
Folio	1090
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne

139

18 February 1914

Frederick Henry Edward Banks
Ivy Myrtle Doreen

Frederick Henry Edward Banks
Ivy Myrtle Doreen
💍 1914/365

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor's Presser

20
16

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
3 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

Henry Banks, Father; Mary Doreen, Mother

18 February 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	139
Date of Notice	18 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Edward Banks	Ivy Myrtle Doreen
	💍 1914/365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor's Presser
Age	20	16
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	32
Consent	Henry Banks, Father; Mary Doreen, Mother
Date of Certificate	18 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

140

18 February 1914

William George Bosher
Kate Imrie

William George Bosher
Kate Imrie
💍 1914/366

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Wellington

18 February 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	140
Date of Notice	18 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Bosher	Kate Imrie
	💍 1914/366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	33
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 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).