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 1666

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar Chas. E. Hylton

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

127

7 July 1915

Wilfred Percy Dickson
Ethel Lynn Flavell

Wilfred Percy Dickson
Ethel Lynn Flavell
💍 1915/3602

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

26
21

Wanganui
Wanganui

16 years
13 years

Residence of Mr F. Flavell 40 River Bank Wanganui

5769

7 July 1915

D. Calder Presbyterian

No	127
Date of Notice	7 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Percy Dickson	Ethel Lynn Flavell
	💍 1915/3602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	16 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr F. Flavell 40 River Bank Wanganui
Folio	5769
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1915
Officiating Minister	D. Calder Presbyterian

129

8 July 1915

Albert Allen
Marion Ethel Bessie Firmin

Albert Allen
Marion Ethel Bessie Firmin
💍 1915/3531

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Housemaid

22
22

Wanganui
Castlecliff

9 years
22 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church Wanganui

5747

8 July 1915

J. D. McKenzie Presbyterian

No	129
Date of Notice	8 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Allen	Marion Ethel Bessie Firmin
	💍 1915/3531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Housemaid
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Castlecliff
Length of Residence	9 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church Wanganui
Folio	5747
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1915
Officiating Minister	J. D. McKenzie Presbyterian

130

12 July 1915

Herbert Thomas Sheridan
Lila Florence McAllister

Herbert Thomas Sheridan
Lila Florence McAllister
💍 1915/3527

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic duties

25
20

Wanganui
Wanganui

4 days
12 months

St Johns Church of England Wanganui

5744

Thomas Edward Mills Guardian

12 July 1915

C. Price Church of England

No	130
Date of Notice	12 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Thomas Sheridan	Lila Florence McAllister
	💍 1915/3527
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	4 days	12 months
Marriage Place	St Johns Church of England Wanganui
Folio	5744
Consent	Thomas Edward Mills Guardian
Date of Certificate	12 July 1915
Officiating Minister	C. Price Church of England

131

12 July 1915

William George Gracey
Ethel Mabel Purnell

William George Gracey
Ethel Mabel Purnell
💍 1915/3601

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Home duties

29
19

Aramoho
Aramoho

3 months
8 weeks

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Wanganui

5768

James Henry Purnell Father

12 July 1915

D. Calder Presbyterian

No	131
Date of Notice	12 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Gracey	Ethel Mabel Purnell
	💍 1915/3601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Home duties
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Aramoho	Aramoho
Length of Residence	3 months	8 weeks
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Wanganui
Folio	5768
Consent	James Henry Purnell Father
Date of Certificate	12 July 1915
Officiating Minister	D. Calder Presbyterian

132

16 July 1915

Arthur John Twindle
Marjorie Graycina McDonell

Bachelor
Spinster

School teacher
Home duties

30
35

Wanganui
Wanganui

10 days
6 months

Roman Catholic Church Wanganui (Note: Not Solemnized see attached. Phone message from McDonell 7/2/16)

16 July 1915

J. R. Holley Roman Catholic

No	132
Date of Notice	16 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Twindle	Marjorie Graycina McDonell
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School teacher	Home duties
Age	30	35
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	10 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Wanganui (Note: Not Solemnized see attached. Phone message from McDonell 7/2/16)
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1915
Officiating Minister	J. R. Holley Roman Catholic

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).