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 1746

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

236

26 March 1915

James John Alfred Ellis
Emily Amelia Gordon

James Alfred Ellis
Emily Amelia Gordon
💍 1915/2239

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
1 week

St Thomas Church Wellington

4148

26 March 1915

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	236
Date of Notice	26 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James John Alfred Ellis	Emily Amelia Gordon
BDM Match (89%)	James Alfred Ellis	Emily Amelia Gordon
	💍 1915/2239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	St Thomas Church Wellington
Folio	4148
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

237

26 March 1915

Robert Adana Horne
Rose Ada Lawrance Parsons

Robert Adam Horne
Rose Ada Lawrance Parsons
💍 1915/8191

Widower, 3 January 1912
Spinster

Company Manager

45
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St James Church Lower Hutt

293

26 March 1915

Rev. A. L. Hansell

No	237
Date of Notice	26 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Adana Horne	Rose Ada Lawrance Parsons
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Adam Horne	Rose Ada Lawrance Parsons
	💍 1915/8191
Condition	Widower, 3 January 1912	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager
Age	45	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St James Church Lower Hutt
Folio	293
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell

238

26 March 1915

Leslie John Tremlett
Ellen Nicholl

Leslie John Tremlett
Ellen Nicholl
💍 1915/1197

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant

24
19

Wellington
Cambridge

12 months
Life

Church of England Cambridge

3088

John Nicholl, Father

26 March 1915

Rev. F. G. Harvie

No	238
Date of Notice	26 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie John Tremlett	Ellen Nicholl
	💍 1915/1197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Cambridge
Length of Residence	12 months	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England Cambridge
Folio	3088
Consent	John Nicholl, Father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Harvie

239

26 March 1915

George Clifton Gram
Ivy Evelyn Cleaver

George Clifton Oram
Ivy Evelyne Cleaver
💍 1915/10701

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Board Employee

31
29

Trentham
Trentham

3 months
3 months

St John's Church Trentham

2938

26 March 1915

Rev. J. H. Sykes

No	239
Date of Notice	26 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Clifton Gram	Ivy Evelyn Cleaver
BDM Match (95%)	George Clifton Oram	Ivy Evelyne Cleaver
	💍 1915/10701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Board Employee
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Trentham
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St John's Church Trentham
Folio	2938
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sykes

240

26 March 1915

John Edwin Pitt
Hilda Indiana Simmons

John Edwin Pitt
Hilda Indiana Simmons
💍 1915/830

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

30
34

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
5 years

St Mark's Church Wellington

2868

26 March 1915

Rev. H. W. Thompson

No	240
Date of Notice	26 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edwin Pitt	Hilda Indiana Simmons
	💍 1915/830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church Wellington
Folio	2868
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Thompson

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).