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 1755

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar H. G. Panthorpe

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

271

1 April 1915

William David Jones
Marion Grant Macleod

William David Jones
Marion Grant Macleod
💍 1915/740

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

42
38

Wellington
Wellington

17 months
2 months

St. James' Manse, Wellington

2725

1 April 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	271
Date of Notice	1 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William David Jones	Marion Grant Macleod
	💍 1915/740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	42	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St. James' Manse, Wellington
Folio	2725
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

272

1 April 1915

Charles James Cowan
Hilda Mary Pattle

Charles James Cowan
Hilda Mary Pattle
💍 1915/606

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
32

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
28 days

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

2726

1 April 1915

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	272
Date of Notice	1 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles James Cowan	Hilda Mary Pattle
	💍 1915/606
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	28 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	2726
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

273

1 April 1915

William John Good Smith
Susan Zilphia Smith

William John Good Smith
Susan Zilphia Smith
💍 1915/913

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
19

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. R. W. Smith, 270 Rintoul Street, Wellington

2950

Richard William Smith, father & guardian

1 April 1915

Rev. E. R. Weston

No	273
Date of Notice	1 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Good Smith	Susan Zilphia Smith
	💍 1915/913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. W. Smith, 270 Rintoul Street, Wellington
Folio	2950
Consent	Richard William Smith, father & guardian
Date of Certificate	1 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Weston

274

1 April 1915

Joseph Ernest Walker
Amelia Margaret Dalziel

Joseph Ernest Walker
Amelia Margaret Gaudin Dalziel
💍 1915/9989

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

43
36

Wellington
Auckland

1 1/2 years
1 month

Mr. Ponford's Residence, Ellerslie, Auckland

2393

1 April 1915

Rev. W. L. Salter

No	274
Date of Notice	1 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Ernest Walker	Amelia Margaret Dalziel
BDM Match (88%)	Joseph Ernest Walker	Amelia Margaret Gaudin Dalziel
	💍 1915/9989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	43	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Mr. Ponford's Residence, Ellerslie, Auckland
Folio	2393
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. L. Salter

275

1 April 1915

Henry William Sprint Pearce
Selina Christina Wilkinson

Henry William Sprnit Pearce
Selina Christina Wilkinson
💍 1915/617

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

23
24

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
14 years

St. John's Church, Wellington

2727

1 April 1915

Rev. J. Gibb

No	275
Date of Notice	1 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Sprint Pearce	Selina Christina Wilkinson
BDM Match (96%)	Henry William Sprnit Pearce	Selina Christina Wilkinson
	💍 1915/617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	2727
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).