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 1562

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

4 February 1914

Dudley Athel Thornton Bannister
Elizabeth Gavel Mikhell

Dudley Athol Thornton Bannister
Elizabeth Garrel Mitchell
💍 1914/7194

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping & Customs Agent

39
32

Ngaio
Wellington

Life
5 years

St James' Church Wellington

1030

4 February 1914

Rev. W. Shirer

No	96
Date of Notice	4 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dudley Athel Thornton Bannister	Elizabeth Gavel Mikhell
BDM Match (90%)	Dudley Athol Thornton Bannister	Elizabeth Garrel Mitchell
	💍 1914/7194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping & Customs Agent
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Ngaio	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	5 years
Marriage Place	St James' Church Wellington
Folio	1030
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

4 February 1914

Sydney John Taylor
Annie Burns

Sydney John Taylor
Annie Burns
💍 1914/6998

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

28
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 day

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

984

4 February 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	97
Date of Notice	4 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney John Taylor	Annie Burns
	💍 1914/6998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 day
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	984
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

4 February 1914

John Boyle
Elva Mary Achard

John Coyle
Elva Mary Achard
💍 1914/9240

Bachelor
Spinster

Secretary

39
33

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
1 day

Basilica of the Sacred Heart Wellington

4313

4 February 1914

Rev. J. P. B. Hickson

No	98
Date of Notice	4 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Boyle	Elva Mary Achard
BDM Match (95%)	John Coyle	Elva Mary Achard
	💍 1914/9240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Secretary
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	1 day
Marriage Place	Basilica of the Sacred Heart Wellington
Folio	4313
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. B. Hickson

5 February 1914

Clarence John Evans
Dorothy Adeline Hare

Clarence John Evans
Dorothy Adeline Hare
💍 1914/6999

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

21
18

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
18 years

Presbyterian manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington

985

Walter Robert Hare, Father

5 February 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	99
Date of Notice	5 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence John Evans	Dorothy Adeline Hare
	💍 1914/6999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington
Folio	985
Consent	Walter Robert Hare, Father
Date of Certificate	5 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

100

5 February 1914

William Moore
Rachel Annie Peck

William Moore
Rachel Annie Peck
💍 1914/7237

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

39
30

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
30 years

Residence of Mr Peck 97 Pirie Street Wellington

1079

5 February 1914

Rev. H. B. Redstone

No	100
Date of Notice	5 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Moore	Rachel Annie Peck
	💍 1914/7237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Peck 97 Pirie Street Wellington
Folio	1079
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Redstone

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).