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 1811

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar J. R. 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

551

30 June 1915

Harold Frances Osmond McGhie
Laura Hephzibah Murch

Harold Francis Osmond McGhie
Laura Hephzibah Murch
💍 1915/3563

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
19

Upper Hutt
Wellington

20 years
19 years

Residence of mr. Goer, Thule Street Wellington

5704

Samuel Murch father

30 June 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	551
Date of Notice	30 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Frances Osmond McGhie	Laura Hephzibah Murch
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Francis Osmond McGhie	Laura Hephzibah Murch
	💍 1915/3563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of mr. Goer, Thule Street Wellington
Folio	5704
Consent	Samuel Murch father
Date of Certificate	30 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

552

30 June 1915

Arthur Stuart Masters
Elizabeth May Cowan

Arthur Stuart Masters
Elizabeth May Cowan
💍 1915/3565

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager

25
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
6 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

5706

30 June 1915

Rev. J. Kennedy Elliott

No	552
Date of Notice	30 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Stuart Masters	Elizabeth May Cowan
	💍 1915/3565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	5706
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kennedy Elliott

553

30 June 1915

William Pullman
Lucy Davis

William Pullman
Lucy Davis
💍 1915/3566

Bachelor
Spinster

Operator

21
21

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
6 months

Residence of Adjt. Bladin 10 Jessie Street Wellington

5707

30 June 1915

Adjt. J. S. Bladin

No	553
Date of Notice	30 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Pullman	Lucy Davis
	💍 1915/3566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Operator
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Adjt. Bladin 10 Jessie Street Wellington
Folio	5707
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Adjt. J. S. Bladin

554

30 June 1915

Alfred Ephraim Smith
Dorothy Louise Blick

Alfred Ephraim Smith
Dorothy Louise Blick
💍 1915/3546

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
21 years

Wesley Church Taranaki St. Wellington

5711

30 June 1915

Rev. A. McBean

No	554
Date of Notice	30 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ephraim Smith	Dorothy Louise Blick
	💍 1915/3546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church Taranaki St. Wellington
Folio	5711
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McBean

555

30 June 1915

Moritz Leers
Mabel Augustus McGregor

Moritz Leers
Mabel Agustus McGregor
💍 1915/8123

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
10 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

2046

30 June 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	555
Date of Notice	30 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Moritz Leers	Mabel Augustus McGregor
BDM Match (98%)	Moritz Leers	Mabel Agustus McGregor
	💍 1915/8123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	2046
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).