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 1878

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

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

881

4 October 1915

Richard Clark
Maggie Howie McLeod

Richard Clark
Maggie Howie McLeod
💍 1915/4928

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

32
26

Blenheim
Petone

10 months
22 months

Presbyterian Church Petone

7171

4 October 1915

Rev. A. B. Todd

No	881
Date of Notice	4 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Clark	Maggie Howie McLeod
	💍 1915/4928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Petone
Length of Residence	10 months	22 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Petone
Folio	7171
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd

882

4 October 1915

Walter Alfred Lammon Fowler
Flora Jessie Walker

Walter Alfred Laumson Fowler
Flora Jessie Walker
💍 1915/4929

Bachelor
Spinster

Constable

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
3 days

St. John's Church Wellington

7172

4 October 1915

Rev. J. Gibb

No	882
Date of Notice	4 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Alfred Lammon Fowler	Flora Jessie Walker
BDM Match (96%)	Walter Alfred Laumson Fowler	Flora Jessie Walker
	💍 1915/4929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Constable
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Wellington
Folio	7172
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

883

4 October 1915

Frederick Charles Kiernan
Gladys Carelene Macpherson

Frederick Charles Kierman
Gladys Carolene MacPherson
💍 1915/4930

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
10 years

Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington

7173

4 October 1915

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	883
Date of Notice	4 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Kiernan	Gladys Carelene Macpherson
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Charles Kierman	Gladys Carolene MacPherson
	💍 1915/4930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington
Folio	7173
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

884

4 October 1915

Alfred Morley Saxton
Doris Aileen Chapman

Alfred Morley Saxton
Doris Aileen Chapman
💍 1915/4931

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Inspector

22
21

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
4 years

Residence of Mr. J. G. Chapman 40 Macfarlane Street Wellington

7174

4 October 1915

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	884
Date of Notice	4 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Morley Saxton	Doris Aileen Chapman
	💍 1915/4931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Inspector
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. G. Chapman 40 Macfarlane Street Wellington
Folio	7174
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

885

4 October 1915

Richard Henry Wren
Edith Mary Purver

Richard Henry Wren
Edith Mary Purver
💍 1915/4764

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter

25
20

Somes Island
Wellington

9 months
9 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

7006

No person in New Zealand authorized to give consent.

19 October 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	885
Date of Notice	4 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Wren	Edith Mary Purver
	💍 1915/4764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Somes Island	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7006
Consent	No person in New Zealand authorized to give consent.
Date of Certificate	19 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).