Intentions to Marry, 1915 Mauriceville to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840460, 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.

1915d contains pages 1501-1972, covering districts from Mauriceville to Wellington

Page 1711

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar J. H. Lukin

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

25 January 1915

Robert Harrison
Margaret Ellen Birmingham

Robert Harrison
Marjorie Ellen Bermingham
💍 1915/1762

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

33
27

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
10 days

Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington

3626

25 January 1915

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	61
Date of Notice	25 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Harrison	Margaret Ellen Birmingham
BDM Match (90%)	Robert Harrison	Marjorie Ellen Bermingham
	💍 1915/1762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	10 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington
Folio	3626
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

25 January 1915

John Edwards
Hagar Hannah Gladys Hey

John Edwards
Hagar Hannah Gladys Hey
💍 1915/9342

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

23
21

Wellington
Pukerau

16 months
21 years

Residence of Mr. Hey, Pukerau

1477, Gore

25 January 1915

Rev. M. A. R. Pratt

No	62
Date of Notice	25 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edwards	Hagar Hannah Gladys Hey
	💍 1915/9342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Pukerau
Length of Residence	16 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Hey, Pukerau
Folio	1477, Gore
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. R. Pratt

26 January 1915

Henry Russell
Dorothy Edwina Gibbs

Henry Russell
Dorothy Edwina Gibbs
💍 1915/8328

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

35
23

SS Mahura
Wellington

6 months
18 years

St Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

379

26 January 1915

Rev. S. Venning

No	63
Date of Notice	26 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Russell	Dorothy Edwina Gibbs
	💍 1915/8328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	SS Mahura	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	18 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	379
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Venning

26 January 1915

George Walter Blair
Katherine Aurora Hill

George Walter Blair
Katherine Aurora Hill
💍 1915/8283

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

31
26

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
24 years

St Marks Church, Wellington

359

26 January 1915

Rev. W. Thomson

No	64
Date of Notice	26 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Walter Blair	Katherine Aurora Hill
	💍 1915/8283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	359
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Thomson

26 January 1915

Henry Hooper
Mary Ann Wakelin

Henry Hooper
Mary Ann Wakelin
💍 1915/8185

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

31
33

Karori
Wellington

31 years
30 years

St Peters Church, Wellington

277

26 January 1915

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	65
Date of Notice	26 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hooper	Mary Ann Wakelin
	💍 1915/8185
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Karori	Wellington
Length of Residence	31 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	277
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

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).