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 1667

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar J. P. Keenhope

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

506

25 May 1916

Robert Livingstone Boadley
Mary Matilda Antoinette Bannen

Robert Livingstone Bradley
Mary Matilda Antoinette Bannin
💍 1916/8606

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

29
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
23 years

St. Joseph's Church, Wellington

2559

25 May 1916

Rev. D. Hurley

No	506
Date of Notice	25 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Livingstone Boadley	Mary Matilda Antoinette Bannen
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Livingstone Bradley	Mary Matilda Antoinette Bannin
	💍 1916/8606
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Wellington
Folio	2559
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Hurley

507

25 May 1916

John Thomas Bell
Vera Ena Margaret Adelaide Childs

John Thomas Bree
Vera Ena Margaret Adelaide Childs
💍 1916/5897

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

25
18

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
9 years

Roman Catholic Church, Kilbirnie

3252

Walter Henry Childs, father

25 May 1916

Rev. W. J. Peoples

No	507
Date of Notice	25 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Bell	Vera Ena Margaret Adelaide Childs
BDM Match (91%)	John Thomas Bree	Vera Ena Margaret Adelaide Childs
	💍 1916/5897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Kilbirnie
Folio	3252
Consent	Walter Henry Childs, father
Date of Certificate	25 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Peoples

508

25 May 1916

Hugh Mooney
Veronica Mary Gledhill

Hugh Mooney
Veronica Mary Gledhill
💍 1916/5316

Bachelor
Spinster

Milk Vendor

26
20

Petone
Petone

11 years
7 years

Sacred Heart Church, Petone

2560

William Gledhill, father

25 May 1916

Rev. P. Quealy

No	508
Date of Notice	25 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Mooney	Veronica Mary Gledhill
	💍 1916/5316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Milk Vendor
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	11 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Petone
Folio	2560
Consent	William Gledhill, father
Date of Certificate	25 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Quealy

509

25 May 1916

Adelbert Peter Lawson
Eva Florence Bowater

Adelbert Peter Lawson
Eva Florence Bowater
💍 1916/5317

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

23
19

Featherston
Wellington

3 months
12 months

Residence of Mr. C. Bowater, 17 Rugby St, Wellington

2561

Walter Alfred Bowater, father

25 May 1916

Rev. G. K. Smith

No	509
Date of Notice	25 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adelbert Peter Lawson	Eva Florence Bowater
	💍 1916/5317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. Bowater, 17 Rugby St, Wellington
Folio	2561
Consent	Walter Alfred Bowater, father
Date of Certificate	25 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Smith

510

26 May 1916

Arthur William Backler
Mabel Annie Newman

Arthur William Backler
Mabel Annie Newman
💍 1916/5295

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
6 months

St. Matthew's Church, Brooklyn, Wellington

2562

26 May 1916

Rev. R. H. Hobday

No	510
Date of Notice	26 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Backler	Mabel Annie Newman
	💍 1916/5295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	2562
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Hobday

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).