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 1911

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar E. 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

1046

1 November 1915

Henry William McMaster
Emma Norman

Henry William McMaster
Emma Norman
💍 1915/4988

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
33

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
6 years

St John's Church, Wellington

7280

1 November 1915

Rev. J. Gibb

No	1046
Date of Notice	1 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William McMaster	Emma Norman
	💍 1915/4988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Wellington
Folio	7280
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

1047

1 November 1915

Harold Leonard Bording
Kathleen Mabel Jacob

Harold Leonard Cording
Kathleen Isobel Jacob
💍 1915/1040

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookseller

28
25

Tauherenikau
Wellington

2 months
23 years

Residence of Mrs Bording, 28 Brougham St, Wellington

7286

1 November 1915

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	1047
Date of Notice	1 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Leonard Bording	Kathleen Mabel Jacob
BDM Match (91%)	Harold Leonard Cording	Kathleen Isobel Jacob
	💍 1915/1040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookseller
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Tauherenikau	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Bording, 28 Brougham St, Wellington
Folio	7286
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

1048

2 November 1915

John Breed
Margaret Ormond

John Creed
Margaret Ormond
💍 1915/7492

Bachelor
Spinster

Tea Importer

35
21

Wellington
Palmerston North

15 years
10 years

St Patrick's Church, Palmerston North

1005

2 November 1915

Rev. J. McManus

No	1048
Date of Notice	2 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Breed	Margaret Ormond
BDM Match (95%)	John Creed	Margaret Ormond
	💍 1915/7492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tea Importer
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	1005
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McManus

1049

2 November 1915

Thomas Hendry Marshall
Irene Maud West

Thomas Hendry Marshall
Irena Maud Weir
💍 1915/1041

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

21
21

Wellington
Johnsonville

1 day
8 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

7287

2 November 1915

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	1049
Date of Notice	2 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hendry Marshall	Irene Maud West
BDM Match (90%)	Thomas Hendry Marshall	Irena Maud Weir
	💍 1915/1041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	1 day	8 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	7287
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

1050

2 November 1915

Mervyn Oswald Stewart
Ivy Mona Lester

Mervyn Oswald Stewart
Ivy Mona Lester
💍 1915/5016

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

27
26

Wellington
Wellington

15 months
4 years

St Peter's Church, Wellington

7309

2 November 1915

Rev. H. Watson

No	1050
Date of Notice	2 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mervyn Oswald Stewart	Ivy Mona Lester
	💍 1915/5016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	7309
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

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).