Intentions to Marry, 1916 Aria to Masterton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840465, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1916 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.

1916c contains pages 931-1380, covering districts from Aria to Masterton

Page 1113

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

10 February 1916

Thomas Reginald Jameson
Ellen Maude Murrow

Thomas Reginald Jameson
Ellen Maude Murrow
💍 1916/3469

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman
Dressmaker

21
24

Napier
Napier

5 years
15 years

St. Augustines Church Napier

514

10 February 1916

Rev. Canon Tuke Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	10 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Reginald Jameson	Ellen Maude Murrow
	💍 1916/3469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman	Dressmaker
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church Napier
Folio	514
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke Church of England

14 February 1916

Francis Patrick Bollinge
Annie Elizabeth Burke

Francis Patrick Collinge
Annie Elizabeth Burke
💍 1916/3468

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic Duties

33
20

Taradale
Taradale

33 years
20 years

St. Mary's Church Meeanee

513

Hannah Burke Mother

14 February 1916

Rev. Father Goggan Roman Catholic

No	22
Date of Notice	14 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Patrick Bollinge	Annie Elizabeth Burke
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Patrick Collinge	Annie Elizabeth Burke
	💍 1916/3468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	33 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Meeanee
Folio	513
Consent	Hannah Burke Mother
Date of Certificate	14 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Goggan Roman Catholic

17 February 1916

Albert Victor Viles
Jane Isabel Greathead

Albert Victor Viles
Jane Isabel Greathead
💍 1916/9598

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

38
28

Napier
Napier

14 days
14 days

St. Augustine's Church Napier

526

17 February 1916

Rev. Canon Tuke Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	17 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Victor Viles	Jane Isabel Greathead
	💍 1916/9598
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	526
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke Church of England

18 February 1916

William Henry Tucker
Lucy Parnell

William Henry Tucker
Lucy Parnell
💍 1916/3600

Widower 25th February 1910
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

73
34

Napier
Napier

3 days
14 days

Registrars' Office Napier

527

18 February 1916

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	24
Date of Notice	18 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Tucker	Lucy Parnell
	💍 1916/3600
Condition	Widower 25th February 1910	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	73	34
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Registrars' Office Napier
Folio	527
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1916
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

18 February 1916

Stanley Albert James Gordon
Fanny Florence Isabella Russell

Stanley Albert James Gordon
Fanny Florence Isabella Russell
💍 1916/3606

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Housemaid

23
22

Napier
Napier

7 years
4 years

St. Pauls Church Napier

528

18 February 1916

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	18 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Albert James Gordon	Fanny Florence Isabella Russell
	💍 1916/3606
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Housemaid
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church Napier
Folio	528
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

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).