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 1425

District of Feilding Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar Charles Christian Halliday

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

13 July 1915

Ernest George Bovis
Zillah Colton

Ernest George Bovis
Zillah Colton
💍 1915/3354

Bachelor
Spinster

Buttermaker
Cook

25
22

Feilding
Feilding

7 years
1 year

Presbyterian Manse Feilding

5567

13 July 1915

Rev. Geo Budd

No	35
Date of Notice	13 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Bovis	Zillah Colton
	💍 1915/3354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Buttermaker	Cook
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	7 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Feilding
Folio	5567
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Budd

14 July 1915

Walter Sydney Radcliffe
Maggie Eunice Buckeridge

Walter Sydney Radcliffe
Maggie Eunice Buckeridge
💍 1915/3355

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Milliner

27
26

Ngaio
Feilding

3 days
2 years

St Johns Church of England Feilding

5568

14 July 1915

Rev. Alan Innes Jones

No	36
Date of Notice	14 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Sydney Radcliffe	Maggie Eunice Buckeridge
	💍 1915/3355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Milliner
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Ngaio	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church of England Feilding
Folio	5568
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alan Innes Jones

14 July 1915

William Duncan McCallum
Norine Beatrice Gray

William Duncan McCallum
Verine Beatrice Gray
💍 1915/3351

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Factory Employee

29
29

Cheltenham
Feilding

3 years
1 year

Church of England Feilding

5564

14 July 1915

Rev. A. S. Innes Jones

No	37
Date of Notice	14 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Duncan McCallum	Norine Beatrice Gray
BDM Match (95%)	William Duncan McCallum	Verine Beatrice Gray
	💍 1915/3351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Factory Employee
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Cheltenham	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of England Feilding
Folio	5564
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Innes Jones

20 July 1915

Arthur George Dear
Hazel Jean Bromley

Arthur George Dear
Hazel Jean Bromley
💍 1915/3353

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
19

Rongotea
Bulls

3 days
3 days

Residence of Rev. P.W. Jones, Richard Burne, Feilding

5566

Richard Burne Guardian

20 July 1915

Rev. P. W. Jones

No	38
Date of Notice	20 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Dear	Hazel Jean Bromley
	💍 1915/3353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Rongotea	Bulls
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. P.W. Jones, Richard Burne, Feilding
Folio	5566
Consent	Richard Burne Guardian
Date of Certificate	20 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Jones

23 July 1915

John Gordon McLennan
Emma Brent Barthew

John Gordon McVicar
Emma Brent Carthew
💍 1915/3364

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
37

Aorangi
Feilding

20 years
3 years

Residence of W. Barthew, East St., Feilding

5552

23 July 1915

Rev. D. J. Murray

No	39
Date of Notice	23 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gordon McLennan	Emma Brent Barthew
BDM Match (85%)	John Gordon McVicar	Emma Brent Carthew
	💍 1915/3364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	37
Dwelling Place	Aorangi	Feilding
Length of Residence	20 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Barthew, East St., Feilding
Folio	5552
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Murray

24 July 1915

Alfred James Collins
Pearl Isabel Cawood

Alfred James Collins
Pearl Isabel Cawood
💍 1915/3370

Bachelor
Spinster

Shirt Cutter
Music Teacher

30
23

Auckland
Halcombe

8 days
8 days

Presbyterian Church Feilding

5558

24 July 1915

Rev. G. Budd

No	40
Date of Notice	24 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Collins	Pearl Isabel Cawood
	💍 1915/3370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shirt Cutter	Music Teacher
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Halcombe
Length of Residence	8 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Feilding
Folio	5558
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Budd

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).