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 1756

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar J. G. 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

776

01 April 1915

Whakarau Te Kotua
Emily Manihera

Whakarau Te Kotua
Emily Manihera
💍 1915/8051

Bachelor
Widow September 1914

Labourer

36
28

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
3 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

1974

01 April 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	776
Date of Notice	01 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Whakarau Te Kotua	Emily Manihera
	💍 1915/8051
Condition	Bachelor	Widow September 1914
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	1974
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

777

01 April 1915

Samuel Hepburn Donkin
Ruby Swindale

Samuel Hybun Donkin
Ruby Swindale
💍 1915/10048

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

27
26

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
20 years

St. Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington

2728

01 April 1915

Rev. J. Gibb

No	777
Date of Notice	01 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Hepburn Donkin	Ruby Swindale
BDM Match (93%)	Samuel Hybun Donkin	Ruby Swindale
	💍 1915/10048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	2728
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

778

01 April 1915

John Henry Chapman
Gertrude Harriet Pearson Blacklock

John Henry Chapman
Gertrude Harriet Pearson Blacklock
💍 1915/849

Bachelor
Spinster

Officer of Customs

28
23

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
Life

St. Andrew's Church, Wellington

2887

01 April 1915

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	778
Date of Notice	01 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Chapman	Gertrude Harriet Pearson Blacklock
	💍 1915/849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Officer of Customs
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Wellington
Folio	2887
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

779

01 April 1915

Herbert Walter Douglas
May Monteith

Herbert Walter Douglas
May Monteith
💍 1915/625

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

20
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 years

St. James' Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington

2729

01 April 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	779
Date of Notice	01 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Walter Douglas	May Monteith
	💍 1915/625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	20	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington
Folio	2729
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

780

01 April 1915

Leonard Walter Francis Hockey
Belsay Guy

Leonard Walter Francis Hockey
Belsay Guy
💍 1915/903

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
26

Miramar
Miramar

4 days
12 months

St. Aidan's Church, Miramar

2941

01 April 1915

Rev. J. G. S. Castle

No	780
Date of Notice	01 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Walter Francis Hockey	Belsay Guy
	💍 1915/903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Miramar	Miramar
Length of Residence	4 days	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Aidan's Church, Miramar
Folio	2941
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. S. Castle

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).