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 1216

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 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

11 February 1915

James Hadden Handyside
Eleanor Kathrine Allis

James Hadden Handyside
Eleanor Katherine Allis
💍 1915/7715

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

24
21

Napier
Napier

6 days
20 years

Trinity Methodist Church, Napier

987

11 February 1915

Rev. I. R. Richards Methodist

No	28
Date of Notice	11 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hadden Handyside	Eleanor Kathrine Allis
BDM Match (98%)	James Hadden Handyside	Eleanor Katherine Allis
	💍 1915/7715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church, Napier
Folio	987
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. R. Richards Methodist

12 February 1915

Reginald Vaughan McCarthy
Katherine Warren

Reginald Vaughan McCarthy
Catherine Warren
💍 1915/7756

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

30
22

Napier
Hastings

11 years
22 years

St. Mathews Church Hastings

954

12 February 1915

Rev. H. H. Robjohns Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	12 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Vaughan McCarthy	Katherine Warren
BDM Match (97%)	Reginald Vaughan McCarthy	Catherine Warren
	💍 1915/7756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	11 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Mathews Church Hastings
Folio	954
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Robjohns Church of England

12 February 1915

Ernest Alfred Robottom
Annie Rosa Harris

Ernest Alfred Robottom
Annie Rosa Harris
💍 1915/8827

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser & Tobacconist
Music Teacher

38
37

Napier
Napier

5 years
2 months

Residence of Mrs. Durrant Wellesley Road Napier

1003

12 February 1915

Rev. W. G. Nation Spiritualist

No	30
Date of Notice	12 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alfred Robottom	Annie Rosa Harris
	💍 1915/8827
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser & Tobacconist	Music Teacher
Age	38	37
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Durrant Wellesley Road Napier
Folio	1003
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Nation Spiritualist

13 February 1915

Walter Albert West
Alice May Parkinson

Bachelor
Spinster

Lifter Railway Workshops
Waitress

21
25

Napier
Napier

5 years
3 years

St. Augustines Church Napier

Not Sold See Attached

13 February 1915

Rev. Canon Luke Church of England

No	31
Date of Notice	13 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Albert West	Alice May Parkinson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lifter Railway Workshops	Waitress
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church Napier
Folio	Not Sold See Attached
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Luke Church of England

16 February 1915

Reginald Heathcote Pavitt
Lucy Jane Mason

Reginald Heathcote Pavitt
Lucy Jane Mason
💍 1915/10169

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Manager
Domestic Duties

34
27

Napier
Hastings

3 days
12 months

St. Johns Cathedral Napier

2848

16 February 1915

Rev. Canon Mayne Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	16 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Heathcote Pavitt	Lucy Jane Mason
	💍 1915/10169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Johns Cathedral Napier
Folio	2848
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne Church of England

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).