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 1230

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 May 1915

Ernest William Storkey
Florence Barbara Sandy

Ernest William Storkey
Florence Barbara Saudy
💍 1915/10671

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Officer, Poor Law Schools, London

37
30

Napier
Napier

37 years
5 months

St. Augustine's Church Napier

3457

14 May 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	94
Date of Notice	14 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Storkey	Florence Barbara Sandy
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest William Storkey	Florence Barbara Saudy
	💍 1915/10671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Officer, Poor Law Schools, London
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	37 years	5 months
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	3457
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

15 May 1915

Alfred Simpkin
Julia Catherine Burke

Alfred Simpkin
Julia Catherine Burke
💍 1915/1657

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter and Paperhanger
Lady Help

24
24

Napier
Taradale

24 years
24 years

St. Patrick's Church Napier

3503

15 May 1915

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	95
Date of Notice	15 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Simpkin	Julia Catherine Burke
	💍 1915/1657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter and Paperhanger	Lady Help
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Taradale
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	3503
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

17 May 1915

Henry George Pulford
Rose May Moss

Henry George Pulford
Rose May Moss
💍 1915/1638

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

32
25

Clive
Whakatu

32 years
25 years

St. Luke's Church Havelock North

3459

17 May 1915

Rev. A. F. Hall, Church of England

No	96
Date of Notice	17 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Pulford	Rose May Moss
	💍 1915/1638
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Clive	Whakatu
Length of Residence	32 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church Havelock North
Folio	3459
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. F. Hall, Church of England

17 May 1915

Thomas Lyon Clouston
Lucy Fletcher

Thomas Lyon Clouston
Lucy Fletcher
💍 1915/10901

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Cook

40
37

Port Ahuriri
Napier

18 years
6 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier

3509

17 May 1915

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	97
Date of Notice	17 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lyon Clouston	Lucy Fletcher
	💍 1915/10901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Cook
Age	40	37
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Napier
Length of Residence	18 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	3509
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

19 May 1915

Henry Neville Murphy
Kathleen Mildred Perrin

Henry Neville Murphy
Kathleen Mildred Perrin
💍 1915/1633

Widower 14 Dec: 1912
Widow 2 October 1912

Labourer
Domestic Duties

48
40

Napier
Westshore

2 years
6 months

Residence of J. Snell Westshore

3454

19 May 1915

Rev. Thos. Tait, Presbyterian

No	98
Date of Notice	19 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Neville Murphy	Kathleen Mildred Perrin
	💍 1915/1633
Condition	Widower 14 Dec: 1912	Widow 2 October 1912
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	48	40
Dwelling Place	Napier	Westshore
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Snell Westshore
Folio	3454
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Tait, Presbyterian

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).