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 1565

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar J. H. Waltho

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

1 January 1916

Charles William Harmer
Cecilia Harrison

Charles William Harmer
Cecilia Harrison
💍 1916/4157

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
25

Trentham
Wellington

3 years
2 years

Congregational Church, Courtenay Place, Wellington

1462

1 January 1916

Rev. A. E. Hunt

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Harmer	Cecilia Harrison
	💍 1916/4157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Courtenay Place, Wellington
Folio	1462
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Hunt

1 January 1916

Arthur Albert Blackwell
Robina Margaret Mary Sothern

Arthur Albert Blackwell
Robina Margaret Mary Sothern
💍 1916/4158

Divorced decree Absolute 20 February 1915
Widow 29 June 1913

Soldier

33
34

Trentham
Wellington

2 months
3 months

Presbyterian manse, St Hill Street, Wellington

1463

1 January 1916

Rev. J. Gibson Smith

No	2
Date of Notice	1 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Albert Blackwell	Robina Margaret Mary Sothern
	💍 1916/4158
Condition	Divorced decree Absolute 20 February 1915	Widow 29 June 1913
Profession	Soldier
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian manse, St Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	1463
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibson Smith

3 January 1916

David Alfred McArtney
Ellen Maria Locker

David Alfred McArtney
Ellen Maria Tocker
💍 1916/4159

Bachelor
Widow 31 July 1913

Carpenter

32
42

Wellington
Wellington

10 days
11 months

Residence of Mrs. E. M. Locker, 170 Vivian Street, Wellington

1464

3 January 1916

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	3
Date of Notice	3 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Alfred McArtney	Ellen Maria Locker
BDM Match (97%)	David Alfred McArtney	Ellen Maria Tocker
	💍 1916/4159
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 31 July 1913
Profession	Carpenter
Age	32	42
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 days	11 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. E. M. Locker, 170 Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	1464
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

4 January 1916

Harold Herbert Taylor
Coralie Isabel Smith

Harold Herbert Taylor
Coralie Isabel Smith
💍 1916/4160

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster

22
26

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
4 years

Residence of H. L. Thomas, "Knutsford", Clyde Street, Island Bay

1465

4 January 1916

Rev. E. R. Weston

No	4
Date of Notice	4 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Herbert Taylor	Coralie Isabel Smith
	💍 1916/4160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. L. Thomas, "Knutsford", Clyde Street, Island Bay
Folio	1465
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Weston

4 January 1916

John Donaldson Henderson
Julia Mahoney

John Donaldson Henderson
Julia Mahoney
💍 1916/4161

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
2 3/4 years

St. James' manse, Wellington

1466

4 January 1916

Rev. W. Shirer

No	5
Date of Notice	4 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Donaldson Henderson	Julia Mahoney
	💍 1916/4161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	2 3/4 years
Marriage Place	St. James' manse, Wellington
Folio	1466
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

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).