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 918

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar William H. Potts

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

21 December 1915

Frederick Griffiths Lee
Mary Irwin

Frederick Griffiths Lee
Mary Irwin
💍 1915/6310

Bachelor
Spinster

Refinery Assistant
Dressmaker

32
26

Paeroa
Thames

6 weeks
4 years

St James Church Presbyterian Church Thames

8761

21 December 1915

Rev J Milne Presbyterian

No	68
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Griffiths Lee	Mary Irwin
	💍 1915/6310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Refinery Assistant	Dressmaker
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Thames
Length of Residence	6 weeks	4 years
Marriage Place	St James Church Presbyterian Church Thames
Folio	8761
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne Presbyterian

22 December 1915

Hubert Edgar Garden
Violet Hazel Lowe

Hubert Edgar Harden
Violet Hazel Lowe
💍 1916/8654

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic duties

27
25

Thames
Thames

3 1/2 years
20 years

St George's Church of England Mackay Street Thames

251

22 December 1915

Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

No	69
Date of Notice	22 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Edgar Garden	Violet Hazel Lowe
BDM Match (97%)	Hubert Edgar Harden	Violet Hazel Lowe
	💍 1916/8654
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church of England Mackay Street Thames
Folio	251
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

24 December 1915

Stanley Robert Green
Eliza Cartwright

Stanley Robert Skeen
Eliza Cartwright
💍 1915/6327

Bachelor
Spinster

Furnaceman
Dressmaker

38
27

Thames
Thames

1 day
27 years

St George's Church of England Mackay Street Thames

8754

28 December 1915

Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

No	70
Date of Notice	24 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Robert Green	Eliza Cartwright
BDM Match (95%)	Stanley Robert Skeen	Eliza Cartwright
	💍 1915/6327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Furnaceman	Dressmaker
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	27 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church of England Mackay Street Thames
Folio	8754
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

24 December 1915

Arthur Edwin Pearce
Elsie Taylor

Arthur Edwin Pearce
Elsie Taylor
💍 1915/6329

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic duties

29
19

Thames
Thames

1 day
2 1/4 years

St Francis Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames

8756

Ellen Taylor (Mother)

29 December 1915

Rev J J Dignan Roman Catholic

No	71
Date of Notice	24 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edwin Pearce	Elsie Taylor
	💍 1915/6329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic duties
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	2 1/4 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames
Folio	8756
Consent	Ellen Taylor (Mother)
Date of Certificate	29 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J J Dignan Roman Catholic

25 December 1915

Sinclair Wilfrid Hallyburton Chambers
Veda Florence Mary McCullough

Sinclair Wilfrid Hallyburton Chambers
Vida Florence Mary McCullough
💍 1915/6328

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

34
31

Thames
Thames

1 day
4 years

St George's Church of England Mackay Street Thames

8755

29 December 1915

Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

No	72
Date of Notice	25 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sinclair Wilfrid Hallyburton Chambers	Veda Florence Mary McCullough
BDM Match (98%)	Sinclair Wilfrid Hallyburton Chambers	Vida Florence Mary McCullough
	💍 1915/6328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	4 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church of England Mackay Street Thames
Folio	8755
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

28 December 1915

Thomas Walker
Mabel Elsie Stevens

Thomas Walker
Mabel Elsie Stevens
💍 1915/6331

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

27
24

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

St Francis Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames

8758

29 December 1915

Rev J J Dignan Roman Catholic

No	73
Date of Notice	28 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walker	Mabel Elsie Stevens
	💍 1915/6331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Francis Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames
Folio	8758
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J J Dignan 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).