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 1237

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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

125

21 July 1915

Harry Hill
Kathleen Burke

Harry Hill
Kathleen Burke
💍 1915/3311

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber & Electrical Engineer
Domestic Duties

32
23

Napier
Napier

20 years
23 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5473

21 July 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	125
Date of Notice	21 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hill	Kathleen Burke
	💍 1915/3311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber & Electrical Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5473
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

126

23 July 1915

Matthew Maguire Morland
Alison Wilson

Matthew Maguire Morland
Alison Wilson
💍 1915/3233

Divorced 30th August 1913
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

40
31

Napier
Napier

7 years
31 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier

5445

23 July 1915

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	126
Date of Notice	23 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Maguire Morland	Alison Wilson
	💍 1915/3233
Condition	Divorced 30th August 1913	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	40	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	5445
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

127

28 July 1915

Raymond Wallace Smith
Susan Benson

Raymond Wallace Smith
Susan Benson
💍 1915/3312

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
32

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 weeks

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5474

28 July 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	127
Date of Notice	28 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Wallace Smith	Susan Benson
	💍 1915/3312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5474
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

128

28 July 1915

Robert Whyte Talbot
Edith Emma Lewis

Robert Whyte Talbot
Edith Emma Lewis
💍 1915/3310

Bachelor
Spinster

Station hand
Nurse

49
42

Waipawa
Napier

10 years
4 months

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5472

28 July 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	128
Date of Notice	28 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Whyte Talbot	Edith Emma Lewis
	💍 1915/3310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station hand	Nurse
Age	49	42
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Napier
Length of Residence	10 years	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5472
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

129

2 August 1915

Robert Henry Howard
Ethel Daisy Colbert

Robert Henry Howard
Ethel Daisy Calbert
💍 1915/3303

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor
Musician

22
20

Napier
Napier

22 years
20 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5466

Herbert Colbert, Father

2 August 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	129
Date of Notice	2 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Howard	Ethel Daisy Colbert
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Henry Howard	Ethel Daisy Calbert
	💍 1915/3303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor	Musician
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5466
Consent	Herbert Colbert, Father
Date of Certificate	2 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).