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 1830

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

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

643

28 July 1915

Andrew Edward Patterson Banning
Florence Hester Henley

Andrew Edward Petterson Canning
Florence Hester Henley
💍 1915/14493

Divorced Decree absolute 5 June 1915
Spinster

Trooper

29
28

Brooklyn
Wellington

2 months
18 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

4550

28 July 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	643
Date of Notice	28 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Edward Patterson Banning	Florence Hester Henley
BDM Match (97%)	Andrew Edward Petterson Canning	Florence Hester Henley
	💍 1915/14493
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 5 June 1915	Spinster
Profession	Trooper
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4550
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

644

28 July 1915

Thomas Blyth
Elizabeth Annabella Colquhoun

Thomas Blyth
Elizabeth Annabella Colquhoun
💍 1915/3645

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker

36
24

Petone
Petone

3 years
15 years

St. David's Church Petone

5836

28 July 1915

Rev. A. B. Todd

No	644
Date of Notice	28 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Blyth	Elizabeth Annabella Colquhoun
	💍 1915/3645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church Petone
Folio	5836
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd

645

28 July 1915

George Henry Gradwell
Margaret Magdalen O'Brien

George Henry Gradwell
Margaret Magdalen O'Brien
💍 1915/3646

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
6 weeks

St. Joseph's Church Wellington

5837

28 July 1915

Rev. J. F. Hurley

No	645
Date of Notice	28 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Gradwell	Margaret Magdalen O'Brien
	💍 1915/3646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church Wellington
Folio	5837
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Hurley

646

28 July 1915

Robert Scott
Mercy Selina Holliday

Robert Scott
Mercy Selina Holliday
💍 1915/3647

Widower 21 November 1912
Widow 27 December 1911

Woollen mill Hand

50
50

Petone
Petone

3 years
2 years

St. David's Church Petone

5838

28 July 1915

Rev. A. B. Todd

No	646
Date of Notice	28 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Scott	Mercy Selina Holliday
	💍 1915/3647
Condition	Widower 21 November 1912	Widow 27 December 1911
Profession	Woollen mill Hand
Age	50	50
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church Petone
Folio	5838
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd

647

29 July 1915

Arthur Edmund Ridding
Frances Tynes

Arthur Edmund Ridding
Frances Lynes
💍 1915/3607

Divorced Decree absolute 22 July 1915
Divorced Decree absolute 30 May 1913

Linotype Operator

47
49

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
9 years

Residence of G. H. Ridding 9 Cardall Street Wellington

5773

29 July 1915

Rev. J. Richards

No	647
Date of Notice	29 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edmund Ridding	Frances Tynes
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Edmund Ridding	Frances Lynes
	💍 1915/3607
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 22 July 1915	Divorced Decree absolute 30 May 1913
Profession	Linotype Operator
Age	47	49
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. H. Ridding 9 Cardall Street Wellington
Folio	5773
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Richards

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).