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 1220

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

5 March 1915

Walter Humphries
Olive Isobel Seale

Walter Humphries
Olive Isobel Seale
💍 1915/8801

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic Duties

29
30

Napier
Hastings

29 years
30 years

St. Matthews Church Hastings

950

5 March 1915

Rev. H. Robjohns Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	5 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Humphries	Olive Isobel Seale
	💍 1915/8801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic Duties
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	29 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church Hastings
Folio	950
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Robjohns Church of England

8 March 1915

Gilbert Roy Tucker
Bessie Ann Rundle

Gilbert Roy Tucker
Bessie Ann Rundle
💍 1915/7720

Bachelor
Spinster

Bridge builder
Domestic

24
26

Greenmeadows
Taradale

14 days
14 days

St. Augustines Church Napier

992

8 March 1915

Rev. Canon Luke Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	8 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Roy Tucker	Bessie Ann Rundle
	💍 1915/7720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bridge builder	Domestic
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Taradale
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church Napier
Folio	992
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Luke Church of England

8 March 1915

Wallace Edwin Yates
Florence Josephine Boucher

Wallace Edwin Yates
Florence Josephine Concher
💍 1915/9142

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Postmistress

29
29

Napier
Timaru

29 years
1 week

Residence of W. H. Kelman Washdyke Timaru

1397

8 March 1915

Rev. E. R. Harries Presbyterian

No	50
Date of Notice	8 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace Edwin Yates	Florence Josephine Boucher
BDM Match (96%)	Wallace Edwin Yates	Florence Josephine Concher
	💍 1915/9142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Postmistress
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Timaru
Length of Residence	29 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Residence of W. H. Kelman Washdyke Timaru
Folio	1397
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harries Presbyterian

9 March 1915

Arthur Armitage
Ethel Gwendoline Kite

Arthur Armitage
Ethel Gwendoline Kite
💍 1915/7717

Bachelor
Spinster

Woollen Spinner
Domestic Duties

30
19

Napier
Napier

4 years
1 year

Residence of H. E. Kite Charles Street Westshore

989

Henry Ernest Kite Father

9 March 1915

Rev. J. R. Richards Methodist

No	51
Date of Notice	9 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Armitage	Ethel Gwendoline Kite
	💍 1915/7717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woollen Spinner	Domestic Duties
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of H. E. Kite Charles Street Westshore
Folio	989
Consent	Henry Ernest Kite Father
Date of Certificate	9 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards Methodist

10 March 1915

James Kendall
Elenor Nicholson

James Kendall
Eleanor Nicholson
💍 1915/7713

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapers Assistant
Dressmaker

22
23

Napier
Napier

9 years
23 years

Congregational Church Napier

985

10 March 1915

Rev. Alfred Hodge Congregational

No	52
Date of Notice	10 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kendall	Elenor Nicholson
BDM Match (97%)	James Kendall	Eleanor Nicholson
	💍 1915/7713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapers Assistant	Dressmaker
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	9 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Napier
Folio	985
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Hodge Congregational

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).