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 1258

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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

222

21 December 1915

Arthur Henry Hutchins
Edith Margaret McCalman

Arthur Henry Hutchins
Edith Margaret McCalman
💍 1915/7159

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

21
21

Napier
Napier

3 days
6 weeks

St John's Cathedral Napier

9648

21 December 1915

Rev. Canon Mayne Church of England

No	222
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Hutchins	Edith Margaret McCalman
	💍 1915/7159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	9648
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne Church of England

223

21 December 1915

Robert Reid
Ethel Mary Richardson

Robert Reid
Ethel Mary Richardson
💍 1915/11535

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

32
22

Blenheim
Taradale

3 years
22 years

All Saints Church Taradale

9022

21 December 1915

Rev. A. P. Clarke Church of England

No	223
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Reid	Ethel Mary Richardson
	💍 1915/11535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Taradale
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Taradale
Folio	9022
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke Church of England

224

23 December 1915

William George Steadman McKernan
Georgina Boyes

William George Steadman McKennan
Georgina Boyes
💍 1915/6613

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

24
26

Napier
Napier

1 week
12 months

St Augustine's Church Napier

9020

23 December 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke Church of England

No	224
Date of Notice	23 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Steadman McKernan	Georgina Boyes
BDM Match (98%)	William George Steadman McKennan	Georgina Boyes
	💍 1915/6613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	1 week	12 months
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	9020
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke Church of England

225

23 December 1915

Llewellyn Mitchell des Landes
Ivy Isabel Bull

Llewellyn Mithcell des Laudes
Ivy Isabel Bull
💍 1915/6592

Bachelor
Spinster

Showcase maker
Servant

25
22

Napier
Napier

2 years
22 years

St Augustine's Church Napier

9015

23 December 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke Church of England

No	225
Date of Notice	23 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Llewellyn Mitchell des Landes	Ivy Isabel Bull
BDM Match (95%)	Llewellyn Mithcell des Laudes	Ivy Isabel Bull
	💍 1915/6592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Showcase maker	Servant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	9015
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke Church of England

226

24 December 1915

George Douglas Brookes Allen
Mabel Campbell

George Douglas Brookes Allen
Mabel Campbell
💍 1915/6594

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Drapers Assistant

28
28

Gisborne
Napier

21 months
28 years

Residence of Mrs Campbell Shakspeare Terrace Napier

9026

24 December 1915

Rev. Thos. Tait Presbyterian

No	226
Date of Notice	24 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Douglas Brookes Allen	Mabel Campbell
	💍 1915/6594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Drapers Assistant
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Napier
Length of Residence	21 months	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Campbell Shakspeare Terrace Napier
Folio	9026
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 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).