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 1125

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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

9 June 1916

Hubert Warwick Bennett
Marguerite Carruth

Hubert Warwick Bennett
Marguerite Carruth
💍 1916/587

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier late Sheepfarmer
Tailoress

25
17

Napier
Napier

2 days
2 days

Registrars Office Napier

3781

Hannah Carruth, Mother

9 June 1916

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	73
Date of Notice	9 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Warwick Bennett	Marguerite Carruth
	💍 1916/587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier late Sheepfarmer	Tailoress
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Napier
Folio	3781
Consent	Hannah Carruth, Mother
Date of Certificate	9 June 1916
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

9 June 1916

Ernest Titcombe
Alison Galloway

Ernest Titcombe
Alison Galloway
💍 1916/588

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

30
23

Napier
Napier

4 years
3 years

The Manse Lincoln Road Napier

3782

9 June 1916

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	74
Date of Notice	9 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Titcombe	Alison Galloway
	💍 1916/588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Manse Lincoln Road Napier
Folio	3782
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

12 June 1916

Alphonse Henri Clodomir Mazure
Frances Caroline Devlin

Alphonse Henri Clodomir Mazure
Frances Caroline Devlin
💍 1916/517

Bachelor
Spinster

Viticultural Expert
Typist

31
22

Napier
Napier

14 days
14 days

Registrars Office Napier

2783

12 June 1916

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	75
Date of Notice	12 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alphonse Henri Clodomir Mazure	Frances Caroline Devlin
	💍 1916/517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Viticultural Expert	Typist
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Napier
Folio	2783
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1916
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

16 June 1916

Harold Bertram Head
Ammee Maud Connor

Harold Bertram Head
Ammee Maud Connor
💍 1916/580

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

22
20

Napier
Napier

22 years
20 years

St. Andrews Church Port Ahuriri

3780

Thomas Connor, Father

16 June 1916

Rev. Oliver Dean, Church of England

No	76
Date of Notice	16 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Bertram Head	Ammee Maud Connor
	💍 1916/580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church Port Ahuriri
Folio	3780
Consent	Thomas Connor, Father
Date of Certificate	16 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Oliver Dean, Church of England

28 June 1916

Francis George Bee
Olive Ethel Puflett

Francis George Bee
Olive Ethel Puflett
💍 1916/6274

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

31
24

Kakariki
Westshore

6 years
24 years

Residence of Mrs. H. Mayo Hardinge Road Port Ahuriri

3695

28 June 1916

Rev. Thos. Tait, Presbyterian

No	77
Date of Notice	28 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis George Bee	Olive Ethel Puflett
	💍 1916/6274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Kakariki	Westshore
Length of Residence	6 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. H. Mayo Hardinge Road Port Ahuriri
Folio	3695
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Tait, 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).