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 1714

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

28 January 1915

William Richard Pinwill
Helen Margaret Richardson

William Richard Pinwill
Helen Margaret Richardson
💍 1915/7903

Bachelor
Spinster

Imperial Army Officer

41
22

Trentham
Christchurch

4 weeks
6 years

St. Saviour's Church Sydenham Christchurch

1624

28 January 1915

Rev. H. S. Leach

No	76
Date of Notice	28 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Pinwill	Helen Margaret Richardson
	💍 1915/7903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Imperial Army Officer
Age	41	22
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 weeks	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church Sydenham Christchurch
Folio	1624
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Leach

29 January 1915

Ernest Nicholson Player
Elizabeth Eileen Lennon

Ernest Nicholson Player
Elizabeth Eileen Lennon
💍 1915/8215

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway [illegible]

26
27

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
20 years

St. Anne's Church Green Street Wellington

240

29 January 1915

Rev. J. Herring

No	77
Date of Notice	29 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Nicholson Player	Elizabeth Eileen Lennon
	💍 1915/8215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway [illegible]
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church Green Street Wellington
Folio	240
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Herring

29 January 1915

John Patrick Stephens
Ellen Fanny Corbin

John Patrick Stephens
Ellen Fanny Corbin
💍 1915/8245

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

42
32

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
4 days

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington

252

29 January 1915

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	78
Date of Notice	29 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Patrick Stephens	Ellen Fanny Corbin
	💍 1915/8245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington
Folio	252
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

29 January 1915

Charles Norman Duncan
Florence May Riley

Charles Norman Duncan
Florence May Riley
💍 1915/8983

Bachelor
Spinster

Chef

32
29

Island Bay
Wellington

10 years
1 year

Residence of Mrs J. Waters 17 Wingfield Street Wellington

1226

29 January 1915

Rev. G. S. Cook

No	79
Date of Notice	29 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Norman Duncan	Florence May Riley
	💍 1915/8983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chef
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Island Bay	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. Waters 17 Wingfield Street Wellington
Folio	1226
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Cook

29 January 1915

John Arthur Palamountain
Ethel Bolton

John Arthur Palamountain
Ethel Bolton
💍 1915/8148

Divorced Decree absolute 29 January 1915
Spinster

Engineer

26
21

Petone
Petone

15 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

121

29 January 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	80
Date of Notice	29 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Arthur Palamountain	Ethel Bolton
	💍 1915/8148
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 29 January 1915	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	15 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	121
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).