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 1894

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

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

961

19 October 1915

John Scoringe
Mary Ellen Griffiths

John Scoringe
Mary Ellen Griffiths
💍 1915/4740

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

21
27

Wellington
Wellington

14 yrs
2 yrs

Registrar's Office Wellington

7032

19 October 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	961
Date of Notice	19 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Scoringe	Mary Ellen Griffiths
	💍 1915/4740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	21	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7032
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

962

19 October 1915

James Francis Byrne
Olive Lilian King

James Francis Byrne
Olive Lilian King
💍 1915/4943

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

25
21

Wellington
Wellington

11 yrs
19 yrs

Residence of Mr. T. V. Byrne 59 Alice Street Wellington

7220

19 October 1915

Rev. G. E. Hale

No	962
Date of Notice	19 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Francis Byrne	Olive Lilian King
	💍 1915/4943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 yrs	19 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. V. Byrne 59 Alice Street Wellington
Folio	7220
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Hale

963

19 October 1915

James Leonard Blimie
Laura May Turner

James Leonard Climie
Laura May Turner
💍 1915/4944

James Rayner Brown
Lucy May Turner
💍 1915/13230

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

33
30

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

30 yrs
4 months

St. James Church Lower Hutt

7221

19 October 1915

Rev. A. L. Hansell

No	963
Date of Notice	19 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Leonard Blimie	Laura May Turner
BDM Match (98%)	James Leonard Climie	Laura May Turner
	💍 1915/4944
BDM Match (66%)	James Rayner Brown	Lucy May Turner
	💍 1915/13230
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	30 yrs	4 months
Marriage Place	St. James Church Lower Hutt
Folio	7221
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell

964

19 October 1915

Tom Holmes Hill
Kitty Paton

Tom Holmes Hill
Kitty Paton
💍 1915/4945

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

30
19

Wellington
Wellington

7 yrs
19 yrs

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

7222

John Paton guardian

19 October 1915

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	964
Date of Notice	19 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Holmes Hill	Kitty Paton
	💍 1915/4945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 yrs	19 yrs
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	7222
Consent	John Paton guardian
Date of Certificate	19 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

965

20 October 1915

Herbert John Hewson
Eileen Constance Ryan

Herbert John Hewson
Eileen Constance Ryan
💍 1915/4946

Bachelor
Spinster

Fellmonger

21
19

Petone
Petone

8 yrs
19 yrs

Residence of Mr. Hewson 29 Hutt Road Petone

7223

Thomas Ryan father

20 October 1915

Rev. J. J. Lewis

No	965
Date of Notice	20 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert John Hewson	Eileen Constance Ryan
	💍 1915/4946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fellmonger
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	8 yrs	19 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Hewson 29 Hutt Road Petone
Folio	7223
Consent	Thomas Ryan father
Date of Certificate	20 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lewis

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).