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 1941

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

1196

7 December 1915

George Edward Croll
Daisie Diddams

George Edward Croll
Daisie Diddams
💍 1915/5120

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinery Salesman

28
24

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
20 months

St. Thomas' church Wellington

7438

7 December 1915

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	1196
Date of Notice	7 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Croll	Daisie Diddams
	💍 1915/5120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinery Salesman
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	20 months
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' church Wellington
Folio	7438
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

1197

8 December 1915

Edward Kirkby
Edith Annie Macklin

Edward Kirkby
Edith Annie Macklin
💍 1915/5121

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
27 years

Congregational church, The Terrace, Wellington

7439

8 December 1915

Rev. J. R. Glasson

No	1197
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Kirkby	Edith Annie Macklin
	💍 1915/5121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Congregational church, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	7439
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Glasson

1198

8 December 1915

Alexander Mackay
Ursula Mary Harper

Alexander Mackay
Ursula Mary Harper
💍 1915/5104

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

34
28

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
8 years

St. Andrew's church, Wellington

7446

8 December 1915

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	1198
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Mackay	Ursula Mary Harper
	💍 1915/5104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's church, Wellington
Folio	7446
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

1199

8 December 1915

William Robert Aston
Margaret Ellen Liggins

William Robert Aston
Margaret Ellen Liggins
💍 1915/4791

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
32

Trentham
Wellington

21 days
7 days

Registrar's Office Wellington

7083

8 December 1915

Registrar

No	1199
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Aston	Margaret Ellen Liggins
	💍 1915/4791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	32
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7083
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1200

8 December 1915

William Shapcott
Rubina Margaret Corson

William Shapcott
Rubina Margaret Corson
💍 1916/367

Bachelor
Spinster

Crane Driver

39
33

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
18 months

St. Mary's church Karori

8 December 1915

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	1200
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Shapcott	Rubina Margaret Corson
	💍 1916/367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Crane Driver
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's church Karori
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

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).