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 1414

District of Featherston Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar H. Dixon

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

30 October 1915

Gilbert John Wilby
Athol Isabella Fox

Gilbert John Wilby
Athol Isabella Fox
💍 1915/9961

Widower
Spinster

Barman
Domestic duties

24
27

Featherston
Petone

2 weeks
3 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7055

30 October 1915

Registrar of Marriages, Wellington

No	16
Date of Notice	30 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert John Wilby	Athol Isabella Fox
	💍 1915/9961
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic duties
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Petone
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7055
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Wellington

01 November 1915

Harold Bernard Cording
Kathleen Isobel Jacobs

Harold Leonard Cording
Kathleen Isobel Jacob
💍 1915/1040

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookseller
Tailoress

28
25

Featherston
Wellington

2 1/2 months
23 years

Residence of Mrs G. Cording, 28 Brougham Street, Wellington

7286

01 November 1915

Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

No	17
Date of Notice	01 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Bernard Cording	Kathleen Isobel Jacobs
BDM Match (93%)	Harold Leonard Cording	Kathleen Isobel Jacob
	💍 1915/1040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookseller	Tailoress
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs G. Cording, 28 Brougham Street, Wellington
Folio	7286
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

02 November 1915

William Taylor
Mary Ellen Taylor

William Taylor
Mary Ellen Taylor
💍 1915/1129

Bachelor
Widow

Engineer
Domestic duties

35
36

Featherston
Featherston

4 months
13 1/2 years

Registrar's Office, Featherston

9107

02 November 1915

The Registrar, Featherston

No	18
Date of Notice	02 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Taylor	Mary Ellen Taylor
	💍 1915/1129
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Featherston
Length of Residence	4 months	13 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Featherston
Folio	9107
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 November 1915
Officiating Minister	The Registrar, Featherston

08 November 1915

Donald Currie Kingsley
Ethel Rosamond Hawken

Donald Currie Kingsley
Ethel Rosemaud Hawken
💍 1915/4837

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Waitress

23
21

Trentham
Wellington

3 weeks
1 month

Methodist Church, Molesworth Street, Wellington

15/7154

08 November 1915

Rev. Cook, Methodist, Wellington

No	19
Date of Notice	08 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Currie Kingsley	Ethel Rosamond Hawken
BDM Match (93%)	Donald Currie Kingsley	Ethel Rosemaud Hawken
	💍 1915/4837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Waitress
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	1 month
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Molesworth Street, Wellington
Folio	15/7154
Consent
Date of Certificate	08 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Cook, Methodist, Wellington

17 November 1915

Percy Dodd Hinton
Ida Jessie Osborne

Percy Dodd Hinton
Ida Jessie Osborne
💍 1915/6735

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur
Domestic

33
27

Featherston
Featherston

6 years
4 months

St Luke's Church, Greytown

9145

17 November 1915

Rev. A. W. H. Compton, Priest Church of England, Greytown

No	20
Date of Notice	17 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Dodd Hinton	Ida Jessie Osborne
	💍 1915/6735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur	Domestic
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Featherston
Length of Residence	6 years	4 months
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church, Greytown
Folio	9145
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. H. Compton, Priest Church of England, Greytown

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).