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 1128

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

11 July 1916

John Nicholson
Gertrude Burwood

John Nicholson
Gertrude Curwood
💍 1916/8006

John Nicholson
Mary Ethel Spraggon
💍 1916/10582

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Hand
Cook

45
37

Olrig
Napier

4 years
5 years

Residence of Mrs. Parr, Hastings Street, Napier

5691

11 July 1916

Rev. Thos. Tait, Presbyterian

No	84
Date of Notice	11 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Nicholson	Gertrude Burwood
BDM Match (97%)	John Nicholson	Gertrude Curwood
	💍 1916/8006
BDM Match (63%)	John Nicholson	Mary Ethel Spraggon
	💍 1916/10582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Hand	Cook
Age	45	37
Dwelling Place	Olrig	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Parr, Hastings Street, Napier
Folio	5691
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Tait, Presbyterian

12 July 1916

Roy Stanley Johnston
Eileen Kate Smith

Roy Stanley Johnston
Eileen Kate Smith
💍 1916/8035

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Dental Assistant

21
20

Napier
Napier

4 months
20 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5720

Annie Maria Smith, Mother

12 July 1916

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	85
Date of Notice	12 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Stanley Johnston	Eileen Kate Smith
	💍 1916/8035
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Dental Assistant
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5720
Consent	Annie Maria Smith, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

18 July 1916

Thomas William Ernest Dawe
Dora Beryl West

Thomas William Ernest Dawe
Dora Beryl West
💍 1916/8032

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier (late Engineer)
Waitress

22
17

Napier
Napier

4 days
2 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5718

Herbert Henry West, Father

18 July 1916

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	86
Date of Notice	18 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Ernest Dawe	Dora Beryl West
	💍 1916/8032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier (late Engineer)	Waitress
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5718
Consent	Herbert Henry West, Father
Date of Certificate	18 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

19 July 1916

Leonard Eustace Tuckwell
Emily Eastley Page

Leonard Eustace Tuckwell
Emily Eastley Page
💍 1916/8029

Widower 31st August 1915
Widow 29th March 1914

Bootmaker
Domestic Duties

51
55

Westshore
Westshore

10 years
20 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

5715

19 July 1916

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	87
Date of Notice	19 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Eustace Tuckwell	Emily Eastley Page
	💍 1916/8029
Condition	Widower 31st August 1915	Widow 29th March 1914
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	51	55
Dwelling Place	Westshore	Westshore
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	5715
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1916
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

24 July 1916

Frederick Selby
Mary Ann Tohill

Frederick Selby
Mary Ann Tohill
💍 1916/1379

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Servant

28
23

Napier
Napier

28 years
3 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

6295

24 July 1916

Rev. Father Ainsworth, Roman Catholic

No	88
Date of Notice	24 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Selby	Mary Ann Tohill
	💍 1916/1379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Servant
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	28 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	6295
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Ainsworth, Roman Catholic

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).