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 1920

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar J. P. A. 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

1091

9 November 1915

Norman William Thomson
Olive Sushannah Handley Horsley

Norman William Thomson
Olive Sushannah Handley Horsley
💍 1915/9969

Bachelor
Spinster

Prisons Officer

31
22

Wellington
Wellington

2 days
6 months

Registrar's office Wellington

7062

9 November 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	1091
Date of Notice	9 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman William Thomson	Olive Sushannah Handley Horsley
	💍 1915/9969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Prisons Officer
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Wellington
Folio	7062
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

1092

9 November 1915

Cyril George Hedge
Agnes Jane Goodsell

Cyril George Hedge
Agnes Jane Goodsell
💍 1915/5024

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
19

Trentham
Karanui

5 years
11 years

All Saint's Church Kilbirnie

7341

George Goodsell Father

9 November 1915

Rev. John Robinson

No	1092
Date of Notice	9 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril George Hedge	Agnes Jane Goodsell
	💍 1915/5024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Karanui
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	All Saint's Church Kilbirnie
Folio	7341
Consent	George Goodsell Father
Date of Certificate	9 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Robinson

1093

9 November 1915

James Dodwell
Elsie Costigan

James Dodwell
Elsie Costigan
💍 1915/9971

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

28
19

Trentham
Wellington

4 years
4 years

Registrar's office Wellington

7064

Elizabeth Costigan mother

9 November 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	1093
Date of Notice	9 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dodwell	Elsie Costigan
	💍 1915/9971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Wellington
Folio	7064
Consent	Elizabeth Costigan mother
Date of Certificate	9 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

1094

10 November 1915

Patrick Davitt Healy
Monica Lucy Hill

Patrick Davitt Healy
Monica Lucy Hill
💍 1915/5025

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

34
23

Trentham
Wellington

3 1/2 years
15 years

St. Mary of The Angels Church Wellington

7342

10 November 1915

Rev. J. O'Connell

No	1094
Date of Notice	10 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Davitt Healy	Monica Lucy Hill
	💍 1915/5025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of The Angels Church Wellington
Folio	7342
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Connell

1095

10 November 1915

Bernard Augustine Whitaker
Frances Josephine Mather

Bernard Augustine Whitaker
Francis Josephine Mather
💍 1915/1023

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

27
28

Wellington
Christchurch

27 years
1 year

Catholic Cathedral Christchurch

7292

10 November 1915

Rev. E. Long

No	1095
Date of Notice	10 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Augustine Whitaker	Frances Josephine Mather
BDM Match (98%)	Bernard Augustine Whitaker	Francis Josephine Mather
	💍 1915/1023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	27 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Catholic Cathedral Christchurch
Folio	7292
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Long

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).