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 1643

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar G. G. Hodgkins

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

386

20 April 1916

Thomas Arthur Ashworth
Bertha Horn

Thomas Arthur Ashworth
Bertha Hurn
💍 1916/5091

Bachelor
Widow 13 July 1910

Telephone Lineman

40
46

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 month

All Saints' Church, Kilbirnie

2431

20 April 1916

Rev. J. H. Sykes

No	386
Date of Notice	20 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Arthur Ashworth	Bertha Horn
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Arthur Ashworth	Bertha Hurn
	💍 1916/5091
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 13 July 1910
Profession	Telephone Lineman
Age	40	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Kilbirnie
Folio	2431
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sykes

387

20 April 1916

Ernest Henry Burgess
Elizabeth Margaret Manahan McIntosh

Ernest Henry Burgess
Elizabeth Margaret Manakau McIntosh
💍 1916/5092

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

23
25

Petone
Petone

3 days
3 years

Residence of Mr McIntosh, 191 Esplanade, Petone

2432

20 April 1916

Rev. A. B. Todd

No	387
Date of Notice	20 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Henry Burgess	Elizabeth Margaret Manahan McIntosh
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest Henry Burgess	Elizabeth Margaret Manakau McIntosh
	💍 1916/5092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr McIntosh, 191 Esplanade, Petone
Folio	2432
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Todd

388

20 April 1916

John William Victor Robinson
Ivy Nellie Butcher

John William Victor Robinson
Ivy Nellie Butcher
💍 1916/5093

Bachelor
Spinster

Glazier

25
27

Wellington
Wellington

6 weeks
3 days

St. John's Church, Wellington

2433

20 April 1916

Rev. J. Gibb

No	388
Date of Notice	20 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Victor Robinson	Ivy Nellie Butcher
	💍 1916/5093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Glazier
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Wellington
Folio	2433
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

389

20 April 1916

George Henry Thornton
Ida Lenora Perry

George Henry Thornton
Ida Lenora Perry
💍 1916/5094

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner

30
23

Wellington
Wellington

Life
19 years

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

2434

20 April 1916

Rev. G. G. Mutter

No	389
Date of Notice	20 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Thornton	Ida Lenora Perry
	💍 1916/5094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	2434
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Mutter

390

20 April 1916

Herbert William Hambly
Annie Violet Duignan

Herbert William Hambly
Annie Violet Duignan
💍 1916/5071

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

29
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
Life

Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington

2435

20 April 1916

Rev. P. Smyth

No	390
Date of Notice	20 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Hambly	Annie Violet Duignan
	💍 1916/5071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington
Folio	2435
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Smyth

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).