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 1928

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

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

1131

19 November 1915

Charles McDonald
Lillian Beatrice Linda Begbie

Charles McDonald
Lillian Beatrice Linda Begbie
💍 1915/4803

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
17

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
2 weeks

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7071

Alexander Begbie, father

19 November 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	1131
Date of Notice	19 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles McDonald	Lillian Beatrice Linda Begbie
	💍 1915/4803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7071
Consent	Alexander Begbie, father
Date of Certificate	19 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

1132

19 November 1915

David Stanley Smith
Eva Jane Cumming

David Stanley Smith
Eva Jane Cumming
💍 1915/5454

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister & Solicitor

27
24

Wellington
Auckland

1 1/2 years
8 years

Knox Presbyterian Church, Parnell, Auckland

7471

19 November 1915

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	1132
Date of Notice	19 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Stanley Smith	Eva Jane Cumming
	💍 1915/5454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister & Solicitor
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Knox Presbyterian Church, Parnell, Auckland
Folio	7471
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

1133

20 November 1915

Robert Darroch
May Hickey

Robert Darroch
May Hickey
💍 1915/5054

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

25
25

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

4 years
13 years

St. Peters & Paul's Church, Lower Hutt

7371

20 November 1915

Rev. J. J. Lane

No	1133
Date of Notice	20 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Darroch	May Hickey
	💍 1915/5054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	4 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters & Paul's Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	7371
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane

1134

20 November 1915

Wallace William Hudson
Naomi Hulbert Billett

Wallace William Hudson
Naomi Hulbert Billett
💍 1915/5055

Bachelor
Spinster

Ship's Carpenter

31
49

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
2 months

Residence of Mrs Milne, 60 Austin Street, Wellington

7372

20 November 1915

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	1134
Date of Notice	20 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace William Hudson	Naomi Hulbert Billett
	💍 1915/5055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ship's Carpenter
Age	31	49
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Milne, 60 Austin Street, Wellington
Folio	7372
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

1135

22 November 1915

Gordon Hope Allan
Madeline Eleanor Montgomery Harraway

Gordon Hobe Allan
Madeline Eleanor Montgomery Harraway
💍 1915/5056

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
25

Trentham
Wellington

2 months
4 days

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

7373

22 November 1915

Rev. B. Wood

No	1135
Date of Notice	22 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Hope Allan	Madeline Eleanor Montgomery Harraway
BDM Match (97%)	Gordon Hobe Allan	Madeline Eleanor Montgomery Harraway
	💍 1915/5056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	7373
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. 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).