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 1633

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar J. G. Palethorpe

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

336

10 April 1916

Cyril D'Arcy Allen
Emily Gladys Stocken

Cyril D'Arcy Allen
Emily Gladys Stocken
💍 1916/5048

Bachelor
Spinster

General Manager Amusement Company

23
19

Lyall Bay
Lyall Bay

9 months
9 months

Registrar's office Wellington

2387

Edwin Beynon Stocken Father

10 April 1916

Deputy Registrar

No	336
Date of Notice	10 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril D'Arcy Allen	Emily Gladys Stocken
	💍 1916/5048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	General Manager Amusement Company
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Lyall Bay	Lyall Bay
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Wellington
Folio	2387
Consent	Edwin Beynon Stocken Father
Date of Certificate	10 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

337

10 April 1916

Hugh David Tisdall Davies
Dorothy Lillias Wardrop

David Hugh Tisdall Davies
Dorothy Lillias Wardrop
💍 1916/5049

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

31
23

Napier
Wellington

6 months
Life

Residence of Mr Wardrop 13 Rossmoor Crescent Wellington

2388

10 April 1916

Rev J Gibb

No	337
Date of Notice	10 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh David Tisdall Davies	Dorothy Lillias Wardrop
BDM Match (80%)	David Hugh Tisdall Davies	Dorothy Lillias Wardrop
	💍 1916/5049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Wardrop 13 Rossmoor Crescent Wellington
Folio	2388
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J Gibb

338

10 April 1916

Albert Bark
Mary Ellen Purvis

Albert Bark
Mary Ellen Purvis
💍 1916/5050

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman

26
25

Fort Ballance
Brooklyn

5 years
3 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

2389

10 April 1916

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	338
Date of Notice	10 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Bark	Mary Ellen Purvis
	💍 1916/5050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Fort Ballance	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	2389
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

339

10 April 1916

John Andrew Dempsey
Margaret Brown

John Andrew Dempsey
Margaret Brown
💍 1916/5051

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

31
30

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
7 days

St Andrews Church Wellington

2390

10 April 1916

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	339
Date of Notice	10 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Andrew Dempsey	Margaret Brown
	💍 1916/5051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Wellington
Folio	2390
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

340

11 April 1916

William Alfred Marsh
Ellender Robertson Clark Flint

William Alfred North
Ellender Robertson Clark Flint
💍 1916/5052

Bachelor
Spinster

Collector

50
34

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Residence of B. Flint, 219 Riddiford Street Wellington

2391

11 April 1916

Rev. W. Shirer

No	340
Date of Notice	11 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Marsh	Ellender Robertson Clark Flint
BDM Match (93%)	William Alfred North	Ellender Robertson Clark Flint
	💍 1916/5052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Collector
Age	50	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of B. Flint, 219 Riddiford Street Wellington
Folio	2391
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 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).