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 1120

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar W. McInnes

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

8 April 1916

David Hugh Tisdall Davies
Dorothy Lilias Wardrop

David Hugh Tisdall Davies
Dorothy Lillias Wardrop
💍 1916/5049

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

31
23

Napier
Wellington

5 months
23 years

Residence of J.H. Wardrop, Wellington

2388

8 April 1916

Rev. Dr. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	8 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hugh Tisdall Davies	Dorothy Lilias Wardrop
BDM Match (98%)	David Hugh Tisdall Davies	Dorothy Lillias Wardrop
	💍 1916/5049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J.H. Wardrop, Wellington
Folio	2388
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Gibb, Presbyterian

10 April 1916

George Banks
Lily Hubbard

George Banks
Lily Hubbard
💍 1916/1149

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Waitress

26
23

Napier
Napier

6 months
2 weeks

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

4477

10 April 1916

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	10 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Banks	Lily Hubbard
	💍 1916/1149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Waitress
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	4477
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

11 April 1916

George Alfred Fulford
Emma Ruth Ethel May Fenn

George Alfred Fulford
Emma Ruth Ethel May Fenn
💍 1916/592

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Laundress

32
33

Meeanee
Meeanee

14 days
2 years

Anglican Church, Taradale

3786

11 April 1916

Rev. A.P. Clarke, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	11 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alfred Fulford	Emma Ruth Ethel May Fenn
	💍 1916/592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Laundress
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Meeanee	Meeanee
Length of Residence	14 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Taradale
Folio	3786
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.P. Clarke, Church of England

14 April 1916

John Fairclough
Ethel Frances Gifford

John Fairclough
Ethel Frances Gifford
💍 1916/570

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardwareman
Domestic Duties

24
20

Napier
Napier

4 years
20 years

Trinity Methodist Church, Napier

3788

Robert John Nicholson Gifford, father

14 April 1916

Rev. T.R. Richards, Methodist

No	51
Date of Notice	14 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fairclough	Ethel Frances Gifford
	💍 1916/570
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardwareman	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church, Napier
Folio	3788
Consent	Robert John Nicholson Gifford, father
Date of Certificate	14 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T.R. Richards, Methodist

17 April 1916

Edwin James Phillips
Dorothy Sarah Topping

Edwin James Phillips
Dorothy Sarah Topping
💍 1916/593

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Tailoress

22
24

Napier
Napier

20 years
24 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

3787

17 April 1916

Rev. J.M. Thomson, Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	17 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin James Phillips	Dorothy Sarah Topping
	💍 1916/593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Tailoress
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	3787
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.M. Thomson, 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).