Intentions to Marry, 1915 Helensville to Whangaroa

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840458, 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.

1915b contains pages 519-1020, covering districts from Helensville to Whangaroa

Page 999

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar Frank Bird

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

6 January 1915

Frederick Loice
Alice Maud Mary Poulton

Frederick Voice
Alice Maud Mary Poulton
💍 1915/7703

Divorced
Spinster

Land agent
Domestic

40
31

Whangarei
Whangarei

6 years
1 year

Registrar's Office Whangarei

895

6 January 1915

Frank Bird, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Loice	Alice Maud Mary Poulton
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Voice	Alice Maud Mary Poulton
	💍 1915/7703
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Land agent	Domestic
Age	40	31
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	895
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, Registrar

6 January 1915

John Masefield
Alice Mary Mulgrave

John Masefield
Alice Mary Mulgrove
💍 1915/1529

Bachelor
Spinster

School teacher
Domestic

30
28

Kamo
Kamo

6 days
6 weeks

Church of England Kamo

3498

6 January 1915

Rev. W. B. Wingfield, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Masefield	Alice Mary Mulgrave
BDM Match (97%)	John Masefield	Alice Mary Mulgrove
	💍 1915/1529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School teacher	Domestic
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Kamo
Length of Residence	6 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England Kamo
Folio	3498
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Wingfield, Church of England

23 January 1915

Norman Budding
Eva Francis Brake

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

27
28

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 years
2 years

Christ Church Whangarei

904

23 January 1915

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	23 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Budding	Eva Francis Brake
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church Whangarei
Folio	904
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

23 January 1915

Thomas Murray
Ethel Livingstone Hoey

Thomas Murray
Ethel Livingstone Hoey
💍 1915/7712

Bachelor
Widow

Engine driver
Domestic

35
31

Whangarei
Whangarei

5 months
10 years

Residence of Mrs. Hoey Whangarei

976

23 January 1915

Rev. J. Pattullo, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	23 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Murray	Ethel Livingstone Hoey
	💍 1915/7712
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	5 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Hoey Whangarei
Folio	976
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Pattullo, Presbyterian

25 January 1915

Jeffrey Cope
Ida Bray

Jeffrey Cope
Ida Bray
💍 1915/8779

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
23

Kaitara
Kaitara

20 years
5 years

Residence of Mrs. T Bray Kaitara

905

25 January 1915

Rev. H. C. Johnson, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	25 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeffrey Cope	Ida Bray
	💍 1915/8779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Kaitara	Kaitara
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. T Bray Kaitara
Folio	905
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. C. Johnson, Church of England

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).