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 1842

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar J. H. 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

703

12 August 1915

Arthur Frederick Dyett
Elcena Agnes Christie McKechnie

Arthur Frederick Dyett
Eleena Agnes Christie McKechnie
💍 1915/3905

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

22
23

Wadestown
Wellington

3 days
6 days

St James' Church

5871

12 August 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	703
Date of Notice	12 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Frederick Dyett	Elcena Agnes Christie McKechnie
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Frederick Dyett	Eleena Agnes Christie McKechnie
	💍 1915/3905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wadestown	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 days
Marriage Place	St James' Church
Folio	5871
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

704

12 August 1915

Archibald Bannall Winstanley
Grace Patchett

Archibald Cannall Winstanley
Grace Patchett
💍 1915/14511

Bachelor
Spinster

Hair-dresser

21
19

Wellington
Wellington

7 weeks
4 days

Registrars Office Wellington

4569

William Patchett father

12 August 1915

Registrar

No	704
Date of Notice	12 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Bannall Winstanley	Grace Patchett
BDM Match (98%)	Archibald Cannall Winstanley	Grace Patchett
	💍 1915/14511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hair-dresser
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	4569
Consent	William Patchett father
Date of Certificate	12 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

705

12 August 1915

William Aaron Collett
Doris Mary Pochnall

William Aarm Collett
Doris Mary Pocknall
💍 1915/3906

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder

35
22

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

35 years
15 years

Church of Christ Lower Hutt

5872

12 August 1915

Mr. H. Grinstead

No	705
Date of Notice	12 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Aaron Collett	Doris Mary Pochnall
BDM Match (93%)	William Aarm Collett	Doris Mary Pocknall
	💍 1915/3906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	35 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Lower Hutt
Folio	5872
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Mr. H. Grinstead

706

12 August 1915

John Taylor
Lillian Lucy Emily Morley

John Taylor
Lillian Lucy Emily Morley
💍 1915/3907

Widower 11 Oct. 1913
Spinster

Baker

30
32

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
14 mos.

Residence of Mr. R. Taylor 62 Adelaide Road Wellington

5873

12 August 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	706
Date of Notice	12 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Taylor	Lillian Lucy Emily Morley
	💍 1915/3907
Condition	Widower 11 Oct. 1913	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	14 mos.
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Taylor 62 Adelaide Road Wellington
Folio	5873
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

707

12 August 1915

Henry Horace Marshall
Constance Hill

Henry Horace Marshall
Constance Hill
💍 1915/3506

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

25
26

Palmerston North
Wellington

3 weeks
18 mos.

St. Paul's Church Palmerston North

5670

12 August 1915

Rev. F. W. Boys

No	707
Date of Notice	12 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Horace Marshall	Constance Hill
	💍 1915/3506
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	18 mos.
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Palmerston North
Folio	5670
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Boys

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).