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 1926

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

1121

17 November 1915

Stanley Roy Meech
Zenobia Dorothy Lomax Longhurst

Stanley Ray Meech
Yenobia Dorothy Ismay Longhurst
💍 1915/5068

Bachelor
Spinster

Photo Engraver

27
23

Wellington
Wellington

27 years
23 years

St. Thomas' Church Wellington South

7361

17 November 1915

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	1121
Date of Notice	17 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Roy Meech	Zenobia Dorothy Lomax Longhurst
BDM Match (91%)	Stanley Ray Meech	Yenobia Dorothy Ismay Longhurst
	💍 1915/5068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photo Engraver
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church Wellington South
Folio	7361
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

1122

17 November 1915

Arthur Hereward Pearse Hall
Nelly Dick

Arthur Hereward Pearse Hall
Nelly Dick
💍 1915/5069

Widower 4 February 1913
Spinster

Builder

48
36

Lower Hutt
Brooklyn

Life
2 years

Anglican Church Brooklyn

7362

17 November 1915

Rev. R. H. Hobday

No	1122
Date of Notice	17 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hereward Pearse Hall	Nelly Dick
	💍 1915/5069
Condition	Widower 4 February 1913	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	48	36
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Brooklyn
Folio	7362
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Hobday

1123

18 November 1915

Frederick Joseph Hatcher
Lucy Marion Heather

Frederick Joseph Hatcher
Lucy Manan Heather
💍 1915/5070

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

30
31

Karori
Island Bay

2 years
1 year

Residence of Mr. A. Hatcher, 7 Carr St. Island Bay

7363

18 November 1915

Rev. G. K. Smith

No	1123
Date of Notice	18 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Joseph Hatcher	Lucy Marion Heather
BDM Match (92%)	Frederick Joseph Hatcher	Lucy Manan Heather
	💍 1915/5070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Karori	Island Bay
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. Hatcher, 7 Carr St. Island Bay
Folio	7363
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Smith

1124

18 November 1915

Leonard Henry Allen
Vera May Blake

Leonard Henry Allen
Vera May Blake
💍 1915/5071

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
22

Tauherenikau (member N.Z. Expeditionary Forces)
Wellington

4 weeks
7 years

All Saints Church Kilbirnie

7364

18 November 1915

Rev R.H. Woods J.H. Sykes JP

No	1124
Date of Notice	18 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Henry Allen	Vera May Blake
	💍 1915/5071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Tauherenikau (member N.Z. Expeditionary Forces)	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 weeks	7 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Kilbirnie
Folio	7364
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev R.H. Woods J.H. Sykes JP

1125

18 November 1915

David Wallace
Sarah Gill

David Wallace
Sarah Gill
💍 1915/5072

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

33
31

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
3 years

St. John's Church Wellington

7365

18 November 1915

Rev. R. Wood

No	1125
Date of Notice	18 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Wallace	Sarah Gill
	💍 1915/5072
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Wellington
Folio	7365
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Wood

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).