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 1215

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

2 February 1915

Edward Herbert English
Ellen Penelope McGregor

Edward Herbert English
Ellen Penelope McGregor
💍 1915/1537

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Clerk

23
23

Tutira
Tutira

18 months
18 months

St. Patricks Church Napier

3483

2 February 1915

Rev. Father O'Sullivan Roman Catholic

No	23
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Herbert English	Ellen Penelope McGregor
	💍 1915/1537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Clerk
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Tutira	Tutira
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	3483
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan Roman Catholic

3 February 1915

William Gordon Hay
Margaret Roulston

William Gordon Hay
Margaret Roulston
💍 1915/9817

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

28
28

Napier
Napier

25 years
28 years

Residence of G. Moon Cootes Avenue Napier

996

3 February 1915

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	3 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gordon Hay	Margaret Roulston
	💍 1915/9817
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	25 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Moon Cootes Avenue Napier
Folio	996
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

9 February 1915

Gordon Ambrose Eastick
Alice Morrill Hosegood

Gordon Ambrose Eastick
Alice Monill Hosegood
💍 1915/12899

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Clerk

28
24

Napier
Napier

16 years
4 years

St. Augustine's Church Napier

1004

9 February 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	9 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Ambrose Eastick	Alice Morrill Hosegood
BDM Match (95%)	Gordon Ambrose Eastick	Alice Monill Hosegood
	💍 1915/12899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Clerk
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	16 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	1004
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke Church of England

10 February 1915

Thomas Kidley Kitt
Mabel Saunders

Thomas Ridley Kitt
Mabel Saunders
💍 1915/10171

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

24
20

Napier
Napier

24 years
6 months

St. John's Cathedral Napier

2850

Elizabeth Saunders Mother

10 February 1915

Rev. Canon Mayne Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	10 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Kidley Kitt	Mabel Saunders
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Ridley Kitt	Mabel Saunders
	💍 1915/10171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	24 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	2850
Consent	Elizabeth Saunders Mother
Date of Certificate	10 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne Church of England

11 February 1915

Panney Lurijud
Lucy Edwards

Panney Lurijud
Lucy Edwards
💍 1915/7752

Bachelor
Spinster

Fish Dealer
Domestic Duties

26
30

Napier
Napier

2 months
2 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier

973

11 February 1915

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	11 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Panney Lurijud	Lucy Edwards
	💍 1915/7752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fish Dealer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	973
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

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).