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 1138

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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

125

16 October 1916

Milton Reid Grant
Hilda Margaret Liston Dunning

Milton Reid Grant
Hilda Margaret Liston Dunning
💍 1916/793

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic Duties

36
31

Napier
Auckland

16 years
8 days

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

6702

16 October 1916

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

No	125
Date of Notice	16 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Milton Reid Grant	Hilda Margaret Liston Dunning
	💍 1916/793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic Duties
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	8 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	6702
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

126

17 October 1916

Patrick Joseph Bowen
Ellen Maud Davis

Patrick Joseph Cowen
Ellen Maud Davis
💍 1916/3035

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

35
25

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

St Patricks Church, Napier

8198

17 October 1916

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	126
Date of Notice	17 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Bowen	Ellen Maud Davis
BDM Match (98%)	Patrick Joseph Cowen	Ellen Maud Davis
	💍 1916/3035
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Patricks Church, Napier
Folio	8198
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

127

19 October 1916

William Henry Jenkins
Doris Hilda Wilson

William Henry Jenkins
Doris Hilda Wilson
💍 1916/1021

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Hand
Domestic Duties

22
19

Napier
Napier

12 months
19 years

Methodist Church, Napier

7570

Theresa Wilson, Mother

19 October 1916

Rev. J. K. Richards, Methodist

No	127
Date of Notice	19 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Jenkins	Doris Hilda Wilson
	💍 1916/1021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	12 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Napier
Folio	7570
Consent	Theresa Wilson, Mother
Date of Certificate	19 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Richards, Methodist

128

20 October 1916

Arthur Hill
Helen Leathwick

Arthur Hill
Helen Leathwick
💍 1916/3043

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic

25
26

Napier
Napier

3 days
16 months

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

8183

20 October 1916

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	128
Date of Notice	20 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hill	Helen Leathwick
	💍 1916/3043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	16 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	8183
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

129

20 October 1916

Clement Roy Spackman
Aileen Moore

Clement Roy Speckman
Aileen Moore
💍 1916/804

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

29
26

Napier
Auckland

13 years
3 years

St. Barnabas Church, Mt. Eden

6703

20 October 1916

Rev. Archdeacon Calder, Church of England

No	129
Date of Notice	20 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clement Roy Spackman	Aileen Moore
BDM Match (98%)	Clement Roy Speckman	Aileen Moore
	💍 1916/804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Auckland
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Mt. Eden
Folio	6703
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Calder, Church of England

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).