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 1945

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar J. H. Buckthorpe

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

1216

11 December 1915

John Alfred Hughes
Alice Mary Cullen

John Alfred Hughes
Alice Mary Cullen
💍 1915/5134

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

21
24

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
3 years

Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington

7458

11 December 1915

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	1216
Date of Notice	11 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Hughes	Alice Mary Cullen
	💍 1915/5134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington
Folio	7458
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

1217

11 December 1915

Hayward Harry Smith
Catherine McQuade

Hayward Harry Smith
Catherine McQuade
💍 1915/4795

Bachelor
Widow, 3 December 1914

Labourer

26
36

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
10 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7086

11 December 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	1217
Date of Notice	11 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hayward Harry Smith	Catherine McQuade
	💍 1915/4795
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, 3 December 1914
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7086
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

1218

13 December 1915

William Munro
Gladys Rosalie Louisa Strand

William Munro
Gladys Rosalie Louisa Strand
💍 1915/5141

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
20

Wellington
Lower Hutt

3 months
20 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

7459

Stephen Strand, father

13 December 1915

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	1218
Date of Notice	13 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Munro	Gladys Rosalie Louisa Strand
	💍 1915/5141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	3 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	7459
Consent	Stephen Strand, father
Date of Certificate	13 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

1219

13 December 1915

John George Hill
Katherine Ruby Brimer

John George Hill
Catherine Ruby Brimer
💍 1916/3431

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

38
22

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
16 years

St John's Church, Wellington

400

13 December 1915

Rev. J. Gibb

No	1219
Date of Notice	13 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Hill	Katherine Ruby Brimer
BDM Match (98%)	John George Hill	Catherine Ruby Brimer
	💍 1916/3431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Wellington
Folio	400
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

1220

13 December 1915

Horace Ernest Alfred Loomes
Rosina Elizabeth Samuels

Horace Ernest Alfred Toomer
Rosina Elizabeth Samuels
💍 1915/5142

Widower, 15 January 1909
Spinster

Carpenter

41
41

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
10 years

St James' Church, Wellington

7460

13 December 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	1220
Date of Notice	13 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Ernest Alfred Loomes	Rosina Elizabeth Samuels
BDM Match (96%)	Horace Ernest Alfred Toomer	Rosina Elizabeth Samuels
	💍 1915/5142
Condition	Widower, 15 January 1909	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	41	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St James' Church, Wellington
Folio	7460
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

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).