Intentions to Marry, 1916 Mauriceville to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840466, 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.

1916d contains pages 1381-1802, covering districts from Mauriceville to Wellington

Page 1437

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

103

6 July 1916

Roy Falloon
Amy Melville Broomfield

Roy Falloon
Amy Melville Broomfield
💍 1916/1412

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier Farmer
Domestic duties

22
25

Featherston
Palmerston North

1 month
2 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

6330

6 July 1916

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	103
Date of Notice	6 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Falloon	Amy Melville Broomfield
	💍 1916/1412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 month	2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	6330
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

104

6 July 1916

Charles Bowen Hoolmes
Annie Stevens Hood

Charles Raven Holmes
Annie Stevens Wood
💍 1916/8077

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
31

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 weeks
24 years

St. Peter's Church of England Palmerston North

5764

6 July 1916

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	104
Date of Notice	6 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bowen Hoolmes	Annie Stevens Hood
BDM Match (88%)	Charles Raven Holmes	Annie Stevens Wood
	💍 1916/8077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 weeks	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	5764
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

105

6 July 1916

Kinnear Ross
Clara Burgess

Kinnear Ross
Clara Burgess
💍 1916/3063

Widower
Spinster

Government Abattoir Inspector
Domestic duties

47
42

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

8 years
2 months

Registrar's Office Palmerston North

5793

6 July 1916

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	105
Date of Notice	6 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kinnear Ross	Clara Burgess
	💍 1916/3063
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Government Abattoir Inspector	Domestic duties
Age	47	42
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	8 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Palmerston North
Folio	5793
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1916
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

106

12 July 1916

James Joseph Guerin
Esther Portina Fulton

James Joseph Guerin
Esther Robina Fulton
💍 1916/8078

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church Palmerston North

5765

12 July 1916

Rev. James McManus, Roman Catholic

No	106
Date of Notice	12 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph Guerin	Esther Portina Fulton
BDM Match (93%)	James Joseph Guerin	Esther Robina Fulton
	💍 1916/8078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church Palmerston North
Folio	5765
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McManus, Roman Catholic

107

19 July 1916

William Mackreth Swinburn
Helen Maud Antill

William MacKreth Swinburn
Helen Maud Autill
💍 1916/7086

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic duties

33
23

Palmerston North
Kumeroa

3 days
9 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

4615

Woodville

19 July 1916

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	107
Date of Notice	19 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mackreth Swinburn	Helen Maud Antill
BDM Match (95%)	William MacKreth Swinburn	Helen Maud Autill
	💍 1916/7086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Kumeroa
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	4615
Consent	Woodville
Date of Certificate	19 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

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).