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 1722

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar J. Stanhope

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

116

10 February 1915

John Gordon McCallum
Louie Maud Batchelor

John Gordon McCallum
Lorrie Maud Batchelor
💍 1915/8361

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
27

Trentham
Trentham

2 months
12 days

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

336

10 February 1915

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	116
Date of Notice	10 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gordon McCallum	Louie Maud Batchelor
BDM Match (95%)	John Gordon McCallum	Lorrie Maud Batchelor
	💍 1915/8361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Trentham
Length of Residence	2 months	12 days
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	336
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

117

11 February 1915

Thomas Matthew McGill
Florence Louisa Moraiti Garbes

Thomas Matthew McGill
Florence Louisa Moraiti Garbes
💍 1915/8198

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
Life

Residence of Mrs Garbes 9 Crawford Road Wellington

299

11 February 1915

H. G. Blackburne

No	117
Date of Notice	11 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Matthew McGill	Florence Louisa Moraiti Garbes
	💍 1915/8198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Garbes 9 Crawford Road Wellington
Folio	299
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1915
Officiating Minister	H. G. Blackburne

118

11 February 1915

Arthur Leo McSpeerin
Edith Mary Moloney

Arthur Leo McSpeerin
Elizabeth Mary Moloney
💍 1915/8214

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Board Employee

38
39

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
6 years

St. Anne's Church Wellington

239

11 February 1915

Archdeacon T. Devoy

No	118
Date of Notice	11 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Leo McSpeerin	Edith Mary Moloney
BDM Match (89%)	Arthur Leo McSpeerin	Elizabeth Mary Moloney
	💍 1915/8214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Board Employee
Age	38	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church Wellington
Folio	239
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon T. Devoy

119

11 February 1915

John Sydney Thomson
Julia Graham

John Sydney Thomson
Julia Graham
💍 1915/8362

Bachelor
Spinster

Instructor N.Z. Permanent Defence Staff

25
22

Trentham
Trentham

3 months
14 days

St John's Manse The Terrace Wellington

337

11 February 1915

Rev. J. Gibb

No	119
Date of Notice	11 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sydney Thomson	Julia Graham
	💍 1915/8362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Instructor N.Z. Permanent Defence Staff
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Trentham
Length of Residence	3 months	14 days
Marriage Place	St John's Manse The Terrace Wellington
Folio	337
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

120

11 February 1915

William Barnard Rhodes
Mary Lafage Morris

William Barnard Rhodes
Mary Lapage Norris
💍 1915/7643

Widower
Spinster

Civil Servant 15 Aug 1913

56
31

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
20 years

St. Thomas' Church Wellington

310

11 February 1915

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	120
Date of Notice	11 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Barnard Rhodes	Mary Lafage Morris
BDM Match (94%)	William Barnard Rhodes	Mary Lapage Norris
	💍 1915/7643
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant 15 Aug 1913
Age	56	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church Wellington
Folio	310
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

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).