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 1133

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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

109

5 September 1916

James Hickey
Amelia Clara Hanlen

James Hickey
Amelia Clara Hanlen
💍 1916/8014

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic Duties

32
29

Napier
Napier

32 years
29 years

Residence of Mrs. Hanlen, Thackeray Street, Napier

5699

5 September 1916

Rev. Alfred Hodge, Congregational

No	109
Date of Notice	5 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hickey	Amelia Clara Hanlen
	💍 1916/8014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	32 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Hanlen, Thackeray Street, Napier
Folio	5699
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Hodge, Congregational

110

6 September 1916

Frederick William Francis Green
Ethel Emily Walkinshaw

Frederick William Francis Green
Ethel Emily Walkinshaw
💍 1916/8009

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Duties

25
25

Port Ahuriri
Napier

2 months
3 days

Registrar's Office, Napier

5694

6 September 1916

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	110
Date of Notice	6 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Francis Green	Ethel Emily Walkinshaw
	💍 1916/8009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Napier
Length of Residence	2 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	5694
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1916
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

111

12 September 1916

George William Ralph Mitford-Taylor
Jessie Macdonald Wallace

George William Ralph Mitford-Taylor
Jessie Macdonald Wallace
💍 1916/1415

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance manager
Domestic Duties

32
35

Napier
Napier

16 years
18 months

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

6333

12 September 1916

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	111
Date of Notice	12 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Ralph Mitford-Taylor	Jessie Macdonald Wallace
	💍 1916/1415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance manager	Domestic Duties
Age	32	35
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	16 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	6333
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

112

16 September 1916

Stanley Simmons
Agnes Spence

Stanley Simmons
Agnes Spence
💍 1916/8013

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

27
26

Napier
Napier

5 years
26 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5698

16 September 1916

Rev. C. T. Rice, Church of England

No	112
Date of Notice	16 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Simmons	Agnes Spence
	💍 1916/8013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5698
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. T. Rice, Church of England

113

19 September 1916

Duncan Donald MacLean
Isabella Lamberton

Duncan Donald MacLean
Isabella Lamberton
💍 1916/8011

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

33
28

Glenross
Napier

5 years
3 days

St. Paul's Church, Napier

5697

19 September 1916

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	113
Date of Notice	19 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Donald MacLean	Isabella Lamberton
	💍 1916/8011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Glenross	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	5697
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 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).