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 1815

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar J. H. Palethorpe

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

568

5 July 1915

Bertie Fletcher Kitching
Alma Wackrow

Bertie Fletcher Kitching
Alma Wackrow
💍 1915/3642

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Fitter

27
24

Johnsonville
Johnsonville

5 years
2 1/2 years

St. John's Church Johnsonville

5784

5 July 1915

Rev. F. H. Petrie

No	568
Date of Notice	5 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Fletcher Kitching	Alma Wackrow
	💍 1915/3642
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Fitter
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	5 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Johnsonville
Folio	5784
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Petrie

569

5 July 1915

Peter William James Bairns
Zenobia Ethel Kittelty

Peter William James Carins
Zenobia Ethel Kittelty
💍 1915/14499

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

25
20

Wellington
Wellington

5 months
5 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

4533

Grace mary Florence Kittelty mother

5 July 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	569
Date of Notice	5 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter William James Bairns	Zenobia Ethel Kittelty
BDM Match (94%)	Peter William James Carins	Zenobia Ethel Kittelty
	💍 1915/14499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4533
Consent	Grace mary Florence Kittelty mother
Date of Certificate	5 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

570

6 July 1915

William Henry Partridge
Emily Eleanor Boon

William Henry Partridge
Emily Eleanor Boon
💍 1915/14500

Widower 12 January 1912
Spinster

Settler

77
36

Wellington
Wellington

38 years
14 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

4534

6 July 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	570
Date of Notice	6 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Partridge	Emily Eleanor Boon
	💍 1915/14500
Condition	Widower 12 January 1912	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	77	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	38 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4534
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

571

6 July 1915

Nathan Kellett Smyth
Marjory Eleanor Howard

Nathan Kellett Smyth
Marjory Eleanor Howard
💍 1915/3619

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
9 years

Methodist Church Molesworth Street Wellington

5785

6 July 1915

Rev. G. S. Cook

No	571
Date of Notice	6 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathan Kellett Smyth	Marjory Eleanor Howard
	💍 1915/3619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Molesworth Street Wellington
Folio	5785
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Cook

572

6 July 1915

George John Roberts Lambert
Charlotte Mary McDonald

George John Roberts Lambert
Charlotte Mary McDonald
💍 1915/3620

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Board Employee

28
25

Lyall Bay
Lyall Bay

2 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church Kilbirnie

5786

6 July 1915

Rev. H. Beggs

No	572
Date of Notice	6 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John Roberts Lambert	Charlotte Mary McDonald
	💍 1915/3620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Board Employee
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Lyall Bay	Lyall Bay
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kilbirnie
Folio	5786
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

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).