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 1745

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

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

231

25 March 1915

Cecil Luscombe Hanley
Clara Kittermaster

Cecil Luscombe Hawley
Clara Kiltermaster
💍 1915/8218

Widower
Divorced Decree absolute 1 October 1914

Storeman
11 April 1908

48
35

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
8 months

St Andrew's Manse Hill Street Wellington

243

25 March 1915

Reverend J. G. Smith

No	231
Date of Notice	25 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Luscombe Hanley	Clara Kittermaster
BDM Match (95%)	Cecil Luscombe Hawley	Clara Kiltermaster
	💍 1915/8218
Condition	Widower	Divorced Decree absolute 1 October 1914
Profession	Storeman	11 April 1908
Age	48	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	8 months
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Manse Hill Street Wellington
Folio	243
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Reverend J. G. Smith

232

25 March 1915

Alfred Richard Wallis
Lucy Kenny

Alfred Richard Wallis
Lucy Kenny
💍 1915/818

Bachelor
Spinster

Hospital Attendant

29
26

Porirua
Porirua

4 1/2 years
3 years

St Pauls Pro Cathedral Wellington

2832

25 March 1915

Reverend A. M. Johnson

No	232
Date of Notice	25 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Richard Wallis	Lucy Kenny
	💍 1915/818
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hospital Attendant
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Porirua
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Pro Cathedral Wellington
Folio	2832
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Reverend A. M. Johnson

233

25 March 1915

Henry Walter Blake
Edith Ellen Cream

Henry Walter Blake
Edith Ellen Cream
💍 1915/7615

Divorced Decree absolute 11 December 1909
Spinster

Platelayer

47
27

Upper Hutt
Wellington

6 years
2 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

158

25 March 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	233
Date of Notice	25 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Walter Blake	Edith Ellen Cream
	💍 1915/7615
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 11 December 1909	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer
Age	47	27
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	158
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

234

26 March 1915

Leonard Brinkman
Ethel Mary Barnett

Leonard Brinkman
Ethel Mary Barnett
💍 1915/2593

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

25
25

Wellington
Christchurch

4 months
19 years

St Mary's Church Manchester Street Christchurch

4404

26 March 1915

Reverend R. Hoare

No	234
Date of Notice	26 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Brinkman	Ethel Mary Barnett
	💍 1915/2593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 months	19 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Manchester Street Christchurch
Folio	4404
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Reverend R. Hoare

235

26 March 1915

James Charles McGill Nutt
Louisa Margaret Donnelly

James Charles McGill Nutt
Louisa Margaret Donnelly
💍 1915/12468

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
10 years

St Andrew's Church Wellington

242

Order of Supreme Court

26 March 1915

Reverend J. G. Smith

No	235
Date of Notice	26 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Charles McGill Nutt	Louisa Margaret Donnelly
	💍 1915/12468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church Wellington
Folio	242
Consent	Order of Supreme Court
Date of Certificate	26 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Reverend J. G. Smith

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).