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 1895

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar J. R. Shelthorpe

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

966

20 October 1915

Francis Walter Woods
Lucy Nora Thomas

Francis Walter Woods
Lucy Nora Thomas
💍 1915/4947

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

25
28

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
1 month

St. Mary of the Angels Church Wellington

7224

20 October 1915

Rev. J. A. O'Connell

No	966
Date of Notice	20 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Walter Woods	Lucy Nora Thomas
	💍 1915/4947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church Wellington
Folio	7224
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. O'Connell

967

20 October 1915

Alexander Campbell Cooper
Constance Pollington

Alexander Campbell Cooper
Constance Pollington
💍 1915/4741

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

23
24

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

5 months
18 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

7033

20 October 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	967
Date of Notice	20 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Campbell Cooper	Constance Pollington
	💍 1915/4741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	5 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7033
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

968

20 October 1915

Ernest David Iremonger
Alice Mabel Gatrell

Ernest David Iremonger
Alice Mabel Gatrell
💍 1915/4948

Bachelor
Spinster

Cutter

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

17 years
22 years

Residence of Mrs. Van Zanten, 115 Karori Rd, Wellington

7225

20 October 1915

Rev. G. S. Cook

No	968
Date of Notice	20 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest David Iremonger	Alice Mabel Gatrell
	💍 1915/4948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cutter
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Van Zanten, 115 Karori Rd, Wellington
Folio	7225
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Cook

969

20 October 1915

Arthur Hodgkinson
Elizabeth Dempster Twelftree Spark

Arthur Hodgkinson
Elizabeth Spark
💍 1915/4934

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

23
28

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
9 months

St. Andrew's Church Wellington

7226

20 October 1915

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	969
Date of Notice	20 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hodgkinson	Elizabeth Dempster Twelftree Spark
BDM Match (72%)	Arthur Hodgkinson	Elizabeth Spark
	💍 1915/4934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	23	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	9 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Wellington
Folio	7226
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

970

20 October 1915

Alfred Hastings
Annie Orchilia Tunnicliffe

Alfred Hastings
Annie Orthilia Tunnicliffe
💍 1915/4935

Widower July 1902
Widow 1910

Butcher

45
40

Johnsonville
Johnsonville

5 years
15 years

Residence of Mrs Tunnicliffe Johnsonville

7227

20 October 1915

Rev. S. H. D. Peryman

No	970
Date of Notice	20 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hastings	Annie Orchilia Tunnicliffe
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Hastings	Annie Orthilia Tunnicliffe
	💍 1915/4935
Condition	Widower July 1902	Widow 1910
Profession	Butcher
Age	45	40
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Tunnicliffe Johnsonville
Folio	7227
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. D. Peryman

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).