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 1225

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

1 April 1915

Percy Clarence Smith
Muriel Eva Turner

Percy Clarence Smith
Muriel Eva Turner
💍 1915/10172

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

29
29

Napier
Napier

3 days
8 years

St. John's Cathedral Napier

2851

1 April 1915

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	69
Date of Notice	1 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Clarence Smith	Muriel Eva Turner
	💍 1915/10172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	2851
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

1 April 1915

Horace Nalder
Beatrice Hazel Funke

Horace Nalder
Beatrice Hazel Furke
💍 1915/10776

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Manager
Domestic Duties

34
23

Napier
Napier

5 years
23 years

Residence of H. F. Funke Napier

3460

1 April 1915

Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

No	70
Date of Notice	1 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Nalder	Beatrice Hazel Funke
BDM Match (98%)	Horace Nalder	Beatrice Hazel Furke
	💍 1915/10776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. F. Funke Napier
Folio	3460
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

6 April 1915

Edward William Smyrk
Jessie Frances Arnold

Edward William Smyrk
Jessie Frances Arnold
💍 1915/1628

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron Machinist
Domestic Duties

33
30

Napier
Napier

7 days
30 years

St. Augustines Church Napier

3472

6 April 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	71
Date of Notice	6 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Smyrk	Jessie Frances Arnold
	💍 1915/1628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron Machinist	Domestic Duties
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	7 days	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church Napier
Folio	3472
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

6 April 1915

Arthur Henry Hibbard Unwin
Edith Muriel Swain

Arthur Henry Hibbard Norwin
Edith Muriel Swain
💍 1915/5097

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

27
23

Napier
Napier

3 days
11 years

St. Johns Cathedral Napier

7415

6 April 1915

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	72
Date of Notice	6 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Hibbard Unwin	Edith Muriel Swain
BDM Match (94%)	Arthur Henry Hibbard Norwin	Edith Muriel Swain
	💍 1915/5097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Cathedral Napier
Folio	7415
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

7 April 1915

William Stanley Hannah
Lilias Dolbel

William Stanley Hannah
Lilias Dolbel
💍 1915/4511

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

25
21

Napier
Napier

25 years
21 years

St. Johns Cathedral Napier

6736

7 April 1915

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	73
Date of Notice	7 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stanley Hannah	Lilias Dolbel
	💍 1915/4511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Cathedral Napier
Folio	6736
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, 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).