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 1317

District of Foxton Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar A. Hawke

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

16 October 1916

John Henry Frederick Richards
Ellen Currin

John Henry Frederick Richards
Ellen Urwin
💍 1916/2983

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

26
28

Foxton
Foxton

3 years
3 years

Registrars office Foxton

7688

16 October 1916

Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	16 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Frederick Richards	Ellen Currin
BDM Match (88%)	John Henry Frederick Richards	Ellen Urwin
	💍 1916/2983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrars office Foxton
Folio	7688
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

28 October 1916

Henry Oberne Furlong
Grace Elizabeth Aldridge

Henry Dyer Gray
Grace Elizabeth Morgan
💍 1916/1112

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool-classer
Domestic Duties

38
18

Foxton
Foxton

5 years
18 years

Residence Edmund Aldridge, Avenue Road Foxton

John Aldridge Father

28 October 1916

[illegible]

No	6
Date of Notice	28 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Oberne Furlong	Grace Elizabeth Aldridge
BDM Match (60%)	Henry Dyer Gray	Grace Elizabeth Morgan
	💍 1916/1112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool-classer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	18
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	5 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence Edmund Aldridge, Avenue Road Foxton
Folio
Consent	John Aldridge Father
Date of Certificate	28 October 1916
Officiating Minister	[illegible]

11 November 1916

William Hebditch
Nellie Hester Evelyn Coley

William Hebditch
Nellie Hester Evelyn Coley
💍 1916/2986

Bachelor
Spinster

Staff Sergeant Major NZ Permanent Staff
Domestic Duties

29
22

Foxton
Himatangi

1 day
22 years

All Saints Anglican Church Foxton

7690

11 November 1916

Rev. W. Raine

No	7
Date of Notice	11 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hebditch	Nellie Hester Evelyn Coley
	💍 1916/2986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Staff Sergeant Major NZ Permanent Staff	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Himatangi
Length of Residence	1 day	22 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church Foxton
Folio	7690
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Raine

5 December 1916

Francis Hardman
Doris Wilhelmina Nielsen

Francis Hardman
Doris Wilhelmina Nielson
💍 1916/2985

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman
Domestic Duties

20
20

Foxton
Foxton

3 days
2 years

Presbyterian Church Foxton

7689

Sarah Mary Hardman Mother, Geo Nielsen Father

5 December 1916

Rev. J. A. Beedin

No	8
Date of Notice	5 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Hardman	Doris Wilhelmina Nielsen
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Hardman	Doris Wilhelmina Nielson
	💍 1916/2985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman	Domestic Duties
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Foxton
Folio	7689
Consent	Sarah Mary Hardman Mother, Geo Nielsen Father
Date of Certificate	5 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Beedin

16 December 1916

Lionel Harcourt Richardson
Doris Evelyn Small

Lionel Harcourt Richardson
Doris Evelyn Small
💍 1916/2987

Bachelor
Spinster

Flaxmill manager
Domestic Duties

21
19

Foxton
Foxton

2 years
19 years

Church of England Foxton

7691

Geo Small Father

16 December 1916

Rev. W. Raine

No	9
Date of Notice	16 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Harcourt Richardson	Doris Evelyn Small
	💍 1916/2987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flaxmill manager	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Foxton
Folio	7691
Consent	Geo Small Father
Date of Certificate	16 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Raine

27 December 1916

Perry Beaumont
Hazel Tasmania Smith

Percy Beaumont
Hazel Tasmania Smith
💍 1916/2982

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

23
22

Foxton
Foxton

5 days
1 year

Residence James Smith Foxton

7687

27 December 1916

Rev. J. A. Beedin

No	10
Date of Notice	27 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Perry Beaumont	Hazel Tasmania Smith
BDM Match (96%)	Percy Beaumont	Hazel Tasmania Smith
	💍 1916/2982
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	5 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence James Smith Foxton
Folio	7687
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Beedin

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).