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 1193

District of Waipawa Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar H. James

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

11 October 1916

George Henry Hunt
Mabel Jane Denholm

George Henry Hunt
Mabel Jane Denholm
💍 1916/2650

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Nurse

40
40

Waipawa
Napier

10 years
3 days

St Paul's Church, Napier

7581

11 October 1916

Rev. J. A. Asher, Church of England, Napier

No	17
Date of Notice	11 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Hunt	Mabel Jane Denholm
	💍 1916/2650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Nurse
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Napier
Length of Residence	10 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	7581
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Church of England, Napier

14 October 1916

Somerset Playne
Lucy May Standidge

Somerset Playne
Lucy May Standidge
💍 1916/2657

Divorced
Spinster

Literary
nil

41
25

Waipawa
Ongaonga

4 days
3 years

at the Office of the Registrar, Waipawa

7588

14 October 1916

R. Boy, Deputy Registrar, Waipawa

No	18
Date of Notice	14 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Somerset Playne	Lucy May Standidge
	💍 1916/2657
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Literary	nil
Age	41	25
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Ongaonga
Length of Residence	4 days	3 years
Marriage Place	at the Office of the Registrar, Waipawa
Folio	7588
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1916
Officiating Minister	R. Boy, Deputy Registrar, Waipawa

26 October 1916

Arthur Edmund Brown
Vera Evelyn Oakenfull

Arthur Edmund Brown
Vera Evelyn Oakenfull
💍 1916/2669

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Clerk
Domestic

32
25

Gisborne
Tikokino

3 months
14 years

St Augustines Church, Napier

7576

26 October 1916

Rev Eric Dudley Rice, Church of England, Napier

No	19
Date of Notice	26 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edmund Brown	Vera Evelyn Oakenfull
	💍 1916/2669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Clerk	Domestic
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Tikokino
Length of Residence	3 months	14 years
Marriage Place	St Augustines Church, Napier
Folio	7576
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Eric Dudley Rice, Church of England, Napier

12 December 1916

Herbert Richard White
Laura Agnes Wood

Herbert Richard White
Laura Agnes Wood
💍 1916/2531

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic

24
19

Waipawa
Otane

3 1/2 years
19 years

St James Church, Otane

7612

William Wood Father

12 December 1916

Rev G W Davidson, Church of England, Otane

No	20
Date of Notice	12 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Richard White	Laura Agnes Wood
	💍 1916/2531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Otane
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St James Church, Otane
Folio	7612
Consent	William Wood Father
Date of Certificate	12 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev G W Davidson, Church of England, Otane

22 December 1916

Edward Ralph Baldwin
Minnie Ethel Beale

Edwan Ralph Baldwin
Minnie Ethel Beale
💍 1916/2530

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

19
20

Pukehou
Pukehou

19 years
2 years

Christ Church, Pukehou

7611

Minnie Jane Baldwin (mother); an orphan no one authorized to consent

22 December 1916

Rev G W Davidson, Church of England, Otane

No	21
Date of Notice	22 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Ralph Baldwin	Minnie Ethel Beale
BDM Match (95%)	Edwan Ralph Baldwin	Minnie Ethel Beale
	💍 1916/2530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Pukehou	Pukehou
Length of Residence	19 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Pukehou
Folio	7611
Consent	Minnie Jane Baldwin (mother); an orphan no one authorized to consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev G W Davidson, Church of England, Otane

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).