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 1849

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar J. 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

738

24 August 1915

Frederick George Major
Edna Sadie Boyes

Frederick George Major
Edna Sadie Moys
💍 1915/3705

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

28
24

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
24 years

All Saints Church Kilbirnie

5895

24 August 1915

Rev. J. H. Sykes

No	738
Date of Notice	24 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Major	Edna Sadie Boyes
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick George Major	Edna Sadie Moys
	💍 1915/3705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Kilbirnie
Folio	5895
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sykes

739

24 August 1915

John Ryan Coughlan
Doris Stella Ross

John Ryan Coughlan
Doris Stella Ross
💍 1915/14518

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

28
19

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
Life

Registrar's office Wellington

4575

Harry Ross, father

24 August 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	739
Date of Notice	24 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ryan Coughlan	Doris Stella Ross
	💍 1915/14518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Wellington
Folio	4575
Consent	Harry Ross, father
Date of Certificate	24 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

740

24 August 1915

Samuel John Gardner
Matilda Margaret Diggle

Samuel John Gardner
Matilda Margaret Diggle
💍 1915/3706

Widower 25 March 1909
Widow 24 June 1908

Storeman

40
33

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
16 years

Residence of Mrs Richards 18 Russell Terrace Wellington

5896

24 August 1915

Rev. H. Beggs

No	740
Date of Notice	24 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel John Gardner	Matilda Margaret Diggle
	💍 1915/3706
Condition	Widower 25 March 1909	Widow 24 June 1908
Profession	Storeman
Age	40	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Richards 18 Russell Terrace Wellington
Folio	5896
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

741

24 August 1915

James Harold Mawby
May Louisa Richardson

James Harold Hawby
May Louisa Richardson
💍 1915/4689

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker & Pastrycook

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
20 years

St. Anne's Church Wellington

6840

Daniel Richardson, father

24 August 1915

Rev. J. A. O'Connell

No	741
Date of Notice	24 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Harold Mawby	May Louisa Richardson
BDM Match (97%)	James Harold Hawby	May Louisa Richardson
	💍 1915/4689
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker & Pastrycook
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church Wellington
Folio	6840
Consent	Daniel Richardson, father
Date of Certificate	24 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. O'Connell

742

24 August 1915

John Francis Williamson
Mabel Anderson

John Francis Williamson
Mabel Anderson
💍 1915/3707

Joshua Davies
Mabel Anderson
💍 1915/5052

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

36
23

Wellington
Wellington

36 years
10 years

Congregational Church Constable Street Wellington

5897

24 August 1915

Rev. W. A. Evans

No	742
Date of Notice	24 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Williamson	Mabel Anderson
	💍 1915/3707
BDM Match (63%)	Joshua Davies	Mabel Anderson
	💍 1915/5052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	36 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Constable Street Wellington
Folio	5897
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Evans

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).