Intentions to Marry, 1915 Aria to Masterton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840459, 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.

1915c contains pages 1021-1500, covering districts from Aria to Masterton

Page 1031

District of Eltham Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar F. H. Barnard

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

3 April 1915

Cecil Stanley Beechey
Olive Mary Edith Bamford

Cecil Stanley Beechey
Olivette Mary Edith Carncross
💍 1915/524

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer
Domestic

27
24

Naseby
Eltham

1 year
13 year

All Saints Anglican Naseby Church

2599

3 April 1915

George Wm Dent

No	91
Date of Notice	3 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Stanley Beechey	Olive Mary Edith Bamford
BDM Match (83%)	Cecil Stanley Beechey	Olivette Mary Edith Carncross
	💍 1915/524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Naseby	Eltham
Length of Residence	1 year	13 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Naseby Church
Folio	2599
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1915
Officiating Minister	George Wm Dent

7 April 1915

William Mowat Falconer
Helen Frances Gibson

William Morrat Falconer
Helen Frances Gibson
💍 1915/1651

Bachelor
Spinster

Public Accountant
School Teacher

25
25

New Plymouth
Eltham

3 day
25 year

All Saints Anglican Church Eltham

3520

7 April 1915

George Wm Dent

No	92
Date of Notice	7 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mowat Falconer	Helen Frances Gibson
BDM Match (96%)	William Morrat Falconer	Helen Frances Gibson
	💍 1915/1651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Public Accountant	School Teacher
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Eltham
Length of Residence	3 day	25 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church Eltham
Folio	3520
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1915
Officiating Minister	George Wm Dent

3 May 1915

Wilfred Eric Barnes
Evelyn Ethel Barnes

Wilfred Huie
Evelyn Ethel Barnes
💍 1915/4502

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
21

Eltham
Eltham

4 year

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Eltham

0703

3 May 1915

Frederick Henry Barnard Registrar

No	93
Date of Notice	3 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Eric Barnes	Evelyn Ethel Barnes
BDM Match (76%)	Wilfred Huie	Evelyn Ethel Barnes
	💍 1915/4502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	4 year
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Eltham
Folio	0703
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Frederick Henry Barnard Registrar

2 June 1915

Pearce Pachoir De Launay
Anna Mary Linn

Pearce Richoir de Launay
Anna Mary Sim
💍 1915/14120

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Clerk

33
25

Eltham
Eltham

2 year
9 years

Knox Presbyterian Church Eltham

3521

2 June 1915

James Lowery

No	94
Date of Notice	2 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Pearce Pachoir De Launay	Anna Mary Linn
BDM Match (83%)	Pearce Richoir de Launay	Anna Mary Sim
	💍 1915/14120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Clerk
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	2 year	9 years
Marriage Place	Knox Presbyterian Church Eltham
Folio	3521
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1915
Officiating Minister	James Lowery

11 June 1915

William Henry Halpine
Isabel Simpson Murray

William Henry McAlpine
Isabel Simpson Murray
💍 1915/1653

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic

27
31

Eltham
Eltham

2 1/2 year
27 year

Knox Presbyterian Church Eltham

3522

11 June 1915

James Lowery

No	95
Date of Notice	11 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Halpine	Isabel Simpson Murray
BDM Match (93%)	William Henry McAlpine	Isabel Simpson Murray
	💍 1915/1653
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	2 1/2 year	27 year
Marriage Place	Knox Presbyterian Church Eltham
Folio	3522
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1915
Officiating Minister	James Lowery

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).