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 1884

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

911

8 October 1915

Arthur Ellison Palmer
Rose Ann Wilkinson

Arthur Ellison Palmer
Rose Ann Wilkinson
💍 1915/4924

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
22

Palmerston North
Wellington

4 months
20 years

St. John's Church Wellington

7190

8 October 1915

Rev. J. Gibb

No	911
Date of Notice	8 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ellison Palmer	Rose Ann Wilkinson
	💍 1915/4924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Wellington
Folio	7190
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

912

8 October 1915

David De la mothe Kilmister
Elizabeth Beatrice Jones known as Elizabeth Beatrice Phillips

David De La Mothe Kilmister
Elizabeth Beatrice Phillips
💍 1915/4925

Bachelor
Widow 6 June 1910

Motor Driver

31
34

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
13 years

Vestry of St. James Church Wellington South

7191

8 October 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	912
Date of Notice	8 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David De la mothe Kilmister	Elizabeth Beatrice Jones known as Elizabeth Beatrice Phillips
BDM Match (68%)	David De La Mothe Kilmister	Elizabeth Beatrice Phillips
	💍 1915/4925
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 6 June 1910
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Vestry of St. James Church Wellington South
Folio	7191
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

913

8 October 1915

Edgar Roland Wilfred Garrett
Doris Hazel Rebecca Shackelford

Edgar Roland Wilfred Garrett
Doris Hazel Rebecca Shackelford
💍 1915/4773

Bachelor
Spinster

Biograph Operator

20
21

Trentham
Wellington

10 years
Life

Registrar's Office Wellington

7014

Ernest Stanley Garrett father

8 October 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	913
Date of Notice	8 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Roland Wilfred Garrett	Doris Hazel Rebecca Shackelford
	💍 1915/4773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Biograph Operator
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7014
Consent	Ernest Stanley Garrett father
Date of Certificate	8 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

914

8 October 1915

Frank Hales
Hellen Bowman

Frank Hales
Hellen Bowman
💍 1915/4883

Widower 5 March 1914
Spinster

minister of the Gospel

51
44

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 day from Melbourne

Wesley Church Taranaki Street Wellington

7192

8 October 1915

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	914
Date of Notice	8 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Hales	Hellen Bowman
	💍 1915/4883
Condition	Widower 5 March 1914	Spinster
Profession	minister of the Gospel
Age	51	44
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 day from Melbourne
Marriage Place	Wesley Church Taranaki Street Wellington
Folio	7192
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

915

9 October 1915

James McColl
Lucy Harris

James McColl
Lucy Harris
💍 1915/4774

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

35
32

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
3 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

7015

9 October 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	915
Date of Notice	9 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McColl	Lucy Harris
	💍 1915/4774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7015
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).