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 1227

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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

14 April 1915

Henry John Clapperton
Lena Bourne

Henry John Clapperton
Lena Bourne
💍 1915/1661

Widower, 26 October 1912
Widow, 17 April 1913

Farm Hand
Housemaid

44
43

Clive
Clive

4 years
3 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier

3507

14 April 1915

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	79
Date of Notice	14 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Clapperton	Lena Bourne
	💍 1915/1661
Condition	Widower, 26 October 1912	Widow, 17 April 1913
Profession	Farm Hand	Housemaid
Age	44	43
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	4 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	3507
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

14 April 1915

Henry Frederick William Clapperton
Mary Ann Richardson

Henry Frederick William Clapperton
Mary Ann Richardson
💍 1915/1662

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Housemaid

19
21

West Clive
West Clive

3 years
8 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier

3508

Henry John Clapperton, Father

14 April 1915

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	80
Date of Notice	14 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Frederick William Clapperton	Mary Ann Richardson
	💍 1915/1662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Housemaid
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	West Clive	West Clive
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	3508
Consent	Henry John Clapperton, Father
Date of Certificate	14 April 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

16 April 1915

James Henry Garnham
Ivy Chambers

James Henry Garnheens
Ivy Chambers
💍 1915/10783

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Household Duties

23
18

Napier
Napier

23 years
18 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

3467

Charles George Chambers, Father

16 April 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	81
Date of Notice	16 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Garnham	Ivy Chambers
BDM Match (91%)	James Henry Garnheens	Ivy Chambers
	💍 1915/10783
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Household Duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	23 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	3467
Consent	Charles George Chambers, Father
Date of Certificate	16 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

19 April 1915

Thomas Brown
Eva Elizabeth Brinson

Thomas Brown
Eva Elizabeth Brinson
💍 1915/1617

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Milliner

27
21

Napier
Napier

4 days
4 days

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

3462

19 April 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	82
Date of Notice	19 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Brown	Eva Elizabeth Brinson
	💍 1915/1617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Milliner
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	3462
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

19 April 1915

John McLennan
Hannah Mabel Gillingham

John McLennan
Hannah Mabel Gillingham
💍 1915/1616

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Household Duties

39
36

Patoka
Napier

2 years
5 days

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

3461

19 April 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	83
Date of Notice	19 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLennan	Hannah Mabel Gillingham
	💍 1915/1616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Household Duties
Age	39	36
Dwelling Place	Patoka	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	5 days
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	3461
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, 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).