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 1833

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

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

658

31 July 1915

Harry Shaw Sturgeon
Kathleen Buchanan

Harry Shaw Sturgeon
Kathleen Buchanan
💍 1915/14519

Widower 14 Dec 1914
Spinster

Gardener

31
23

Seatoun
Wellington

2 years
15 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

4553

31 July 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	658
Date of Notice	31 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Shaw Sturgeon	Kathleen Buchanan
	💍 1915/14519
Condition	Widower 14 Dec 1914	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Seatoun	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4553
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

659

31 July 1915

William Butler Rowan
Marion Blanche Instone

William Butler Rowan
Marion Blanche Instone
💍 1915/3656

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

29
24

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
1 year

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

5846

31 July 1915

Rev. J Kennedy Elliott

No	659
Date of Notice	31 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Butler Rowan	Marion Blanche Instone
	💍 1915/3656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	5846
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J Kennedy Elliott

660

31 July 1915

David Guy Laurie
Amy Elizabeth Lewer

David Guy Lawrie
Amy Elizabeth Lewer
💍 1915/3606

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

32
25

Kilbirnie
Karori

3 years
25 years

Methodist Church Karori

5772

31 July 1915

Rev. B H Standage

No	660
Date of Notice	31 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Guy Laurie	Amy Elizabeth Lewer
BDM Match (97%)	David Guy Lawrie	Amy Elizabeth Lewer
	💍 1915/3606
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Karori
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Karori
Folio	5772
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. B H Standage

661

31 July 1915

Leonard Albert Clark
Kathleen Elizabeth Russell

Leonard Albert Clark
Kathleen Elizabeth Bussell
💍 1915/3547

Bachelor
Spinster

Secretary

25
28

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
4 days

St. Mark's Church Wellington

5712

31 July 1915

Rev. C F Askew

No	661
Date of Notice	31 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Albert Clark	Kathleen Elizabeth Russell
BDM Match (98%)	Leonard Albert Clark	Kathleen Elizabeth Bussell
	💍 1915/3547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Secretary
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church Wellington
Folio	5712
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C F Askew

662

2 August 1915

James Bollins
Clara Carr

James Collins
Clara Carr
💍 1915/3657

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

40
31

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
31 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington

5847

2 August 1915

Rev. A M Johnson

No	662
Date of Notice	2 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bollins	Clara Carr
BDM Match (96%)	James Collins	Clara Carr
	💍 1915/3657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	40	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	31 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington
Folio	5847
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 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).