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 1747

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar A. Stanhope

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

241

27 March 1915

Arthur Cyril Roud (Road)
Gertrude Martha Henry

Arthur Cyril Roud
Gertrude Martha Henry
💍 1915/7616

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
23 years

Registrars Office Wellington

159

27 March 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	241
Date of Notice	27 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Cyril Roud (Road)	Gertrude Martha Henry
BDM Match (85%)	Arthur Cyril Roud	Gertrude Martha Henry
	💍 1915/7616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	159
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

242

27 March 1915

George Tunnicliffe Thorley
Anne Melrose

George Tunnicliffe Thorley
Anne Melrose
💍 1915/7593

Widower 2 August 1910
Spinster

Gardener

53
33

Wellington
Wellington

7 1/2 years
3 weeks

Registrars Office Wellington

160

27 March 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	242
Date of Notice	27 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Tunnicliffe Thorley	Anne Melrose
	💍 1915/7593
Condition	Widower 2 August 1910	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	53	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 1/2 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	160
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

243

27 March 1915

Benjamin Rice
Jessie Agnes Winnie

Benjamin Rice
Jessie Agnes Winnie
💍 1915/871

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute 29 May 1913

Butcher

28
27

Alicetown
Lyall Bay

6 months
Life

Residence J.W.H. Walker Rua Street Lyall Bay

2885

27 March 1915

Rev J. J. Lewis

No	243
Date of Notice	27 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Rice	Jessie Agnes Winnie
	💍 1915/871
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute 29 May 1913
Profession	Butcher
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Alicetown	Lyall Bay
Length of Residence	6 months	Life
Marriage Place	Residence J.W.H. Walker Rua Street Lyall Bay
Folio	2885
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J. J. Lewis

244

29 March 1915

Clarence Smith
Margaret Jane Thomas

Clarence Smith
Margaret Jane Thomas
💍 1915/7594

Divorced decree absolute 23 March 1915
Widow 7 November 1906

Settler

31
40

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Wellington

161

29 March 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	244
Date of Notice	29 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Smith	Margaret Jane Thomas
	💍 1915/7594
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 23 March 1915	Widow 7 November 1906
Profession	Settler
Age	31	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	161
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

245

29 March 1915

James Watts
Isabella Dunnett

James Watts
Isabella Dunnett
💍 1915/817

Bachelor
Widow 27 June 1907

Farmer

37
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
32 years

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

2831

29 March 1915

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	245
Date of Notice	29 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Watts	Isabella Dunnett
	💍 1915/817
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 27 June 1907
Profession	Farmer
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	2831
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott

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).