Intentions to Marry, 1915 Albertland to Hamilton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840457, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1915 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1915a contains pages 1-518, covering districts from Albertland to Hamilton

Page 028

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar [illegible]

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

1915 25 January

Harold William
Annie Ward Varley

Harold William Samuel Davies
Annie Ward Varley
💍 1915/11934

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

29
30

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
2 yrs.

St. Alban's Church Dominion Rd.

741

1915 25 January

Rev. H.B. Hingfield Anglican

No	96
Date of Notice	1915 25 January
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold William	Annie Ward Varley
BDM Match (75%)	Harold William Samuel Davies	Annie Ward Varley
	💍 1915/11934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	2 yrs.
Marriage Place	St. Alban's Church Dominion Rd.
Folio	741
Consent
Date of Certificate	1915 25 January
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.B. Hingfield Anglican

1915 25 January

Victor Harold Sommerville
Eveline Annie Wheeler

Victor Harold Sommerville
Eveline Annie Wheeler
💍 1915/8330

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

20
18

Auckland
Auckland

5 mos.
4 mos.

House of Bride's mother 29 Qurrey St.

381

Thomas White Sommerville father. Elizabeth Caroline Wheeler mother

1915 25 January

Rev. R. Sommerville Presbyterian

No	97
Date of Notice	1915 25 January
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Harold Sommerville	Eveline Annie Wheeler
	💍 1915/8330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 mos.	4 mos.
Marriage Place	House of Bride's mother 29 Qurrey St.
Folio	381
Consent	Thomas White Sommerville father. Elizabeth Caroline Wheeler mother
Date of Certificate	1915 25 January
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville Presbyterian

1915 26 January

Manfred Rew
Florence Smith

Manfred Kew
Florence Smith
💍 1915/8535

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
24

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
12 mos.

Anglican Church Takapuna

635

1915 26 January

Rev. W.G. Monckton Anglican

No	98
Date of Notice	1915 26 January
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Manfred Rew	Florence Smith
BDM Match (95%)	Manfred Kew	Florence Smith
	💍 1915/8535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	12 mos.
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Takapuna
Folio	635
Consent
Date of Certificate	1915 26 January
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.G. Monckton Anglican

1915 26 January

James Douglas Stewart
Florence May McDermott

James Douglas Stewart
Florence May McDermott
💍 1915/1341

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

25
26

Auckland
Auckland

18 yrs
Life

Sacred Heart Church Ponsonby

3208

1915 26 January

Rev. J. Cahill Roman Catholic

No	99
Date of Notice	1915 26 January
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Douglas Stewart	Florence May McDermott
	💍 1915/1341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 yrs	Life
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church Ponsonby
Folio	3208
Consent
Date of Certificate	1915 26 January
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cahill Roman Catholic

100

1915 26 January

Joseph Purcell Dinnerty
Rose Ellen [Date]

Joseph Purcell Finnerty
Rose Ellen Tate
💍 1915/2466

Bachelor
Spinster

Shunter
N.Z.R

30
34

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
Life

St. Benedicts Church

4373

1915 26 January

Pet. Rev. G.H. Gillan Roman Catholic.

No	100
Date of Notice	1915 26 January
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Purcell Dinnerty	Rose Ellen [Date]
BDM Match (89%)	Joseph Purcell Finnerty	Rose Ellen Tate
	💍 1915/2466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shunter	N.Z.R
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Benedicts Church
Folio	4373
Consent
Date of Certificate	1915 26 January
Officiating Minister	Pet. Rev. G.H. Gillan Roman Catholic.

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).