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 1631

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar J. H. Renthorpe

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

326

7 April 1916

Kenneth Bernard Cudby
Sarah Ellen Lord

Kenneth Bernard Cudby
Sarah Ellen Lord
💍 1916/5057

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
3 years

St. James's Church, Wellington

2377

7 April 1916

Rev. W. Shirer

No	326
Date of Notice	7 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Bernard Cudby	Sarah Ellen Lord
	💍 1916/5057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. James's Church, Wellington
Folio	2377
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

327

8 April 1916

William Allison
Margaret Martin

William Allison
Margaret Martin
💍 1916/5063

Bachelor
Widow, 6 February 1912

Barman

40
46

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
2 weeks

The Manse, 35 Pirie St., Wellington

2378

8 April 1916

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	327
Date of Notice	8 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Allison	Margaret Martin
	💍 1916/5063
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, 6 February 1912
Profession	Barman
Age	40	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	The Manse, 35 Pirie St., Wellington
Folio	2378
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

328

8 April 1916

John Wilson
Olive May Neal

John Wilson
Olive May Neal
💍 1916/11171

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

31
21

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
21 years

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

2379

8 April 1916

Rev. C. F. Askew

No	328
Date of Notice	8 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wilson	Olive May Neal
	💍 1916/11171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	2379
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew

329

8 April 1916

Joseph William Fletcher
Myrtle Elizabeth Oakley Browne

Joseph William Fletcher
Myrtle Elizabeth Oakley Browne
💍 1916/5065

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect & Builder

36
36

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
12 years

Unitarian Free Church, Vivian Street, Wellington

2380

8 April 1916

Rev. G. E. Hale

No	329
Date of Notice	8 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Fletcher	Myrtle Elizabeth Oakley Browne
	💍 1916/5065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect & Builder
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Unitarian Free Church, Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	2380
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Hale

330

8 April 1916

Donald McCallum
Alice Emily Irene Beale

Donald McCallum
Alice Emily Irene Beale
💍 1916/5066

Widower, 24 March 1912
Spinster

Enginedriver

38
23

Kaiwarra
Petone

38 years
15 years

St. John's Manse, 328 The Terrace, Wellington

2381

8 April 1916

Rev. J. Gibb

No	330
Date of Notice	8 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald McCallum	Alice Emily Irene Beale
	💍 1916/5066
Condition	Widower, 24 March 1912	Spinster
Profession	Enginedriver
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Kaiwarra	Petone
Length of Residence	38 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Manse, 328 The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	2381
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

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).