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 1791

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar J. H. Paethope

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

1111

19 December 1916

Bert Long
Millicent Miriam Long

Bert Long
Millicent Miriam White
💍 1916/5277

Previously married 13/6/1916
Previously married 13/6/1916

Draper's Assistant

32
27

Wellington
Christchurch

7 months
10 years

Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

6924

19 December 1916

Rev. J. J. North

No	1111
Date of Notice	19 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bert Long	Millicent Miriam Long
BDM Match (89%)	Bert Long	Millicent Miriam White
	💍 1916/5277
Condition	Previously married 13/6/1916	Previously married 13/6/1916
Profession	Draper's Assistant
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	6924
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. North

1112

19 December 1916

Percy Edward Hepburn
Rayna Dorothy Gaffney

Percy Edward Hepburn
Bayna Dorothy Gaffney
💍 1916/1719

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

25
25

Trentham
Wellington

1 year
16 months

St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

6588

19 December 1916

Rev. A. Venning

No	1112
Date of Notice	19 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Edward Hepburn	Rayna Dorothy Gaffney
BDM Match (98%)	Percy Edward Hepburn	Bayna Dorothy Gaffney
	💍 1916/1719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	16 months
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	6588
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Venning

1113

19 December 1916

Thomas Albany Troward
Marie Magdalene Walter

Thomas Albany Troward
Marie Magdalene Walter
💍 1916/1720

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

36
36

Trentham
Wellington

5 years
11 years

St James Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington

6589

19 December 1916

Rev. W. Shires

No	1113
Date of Notice	19 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Albany Troward	Marie Magdalene Walter
	💍 1916/1720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St James Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington
Folio	6589
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shires

1114

19 December 1916

Frederick Augustine Hickmott
Ethel May Grist

Frederick Augustus Hickmott
Ethel May Grist
💍 1916/2405

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

30
25

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
3 years

Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington

7371

19 December 1916

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	1114
Date of Notice	19 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Augustine Hickmott	Ethel May Grist
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick Augustus Hickmott	Ethel May Grist
	💍 1916/2405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington
Folio	7371
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

1115

19 December 1916

John Mackay
Alice Dora Maude Dottington

John MacKay
Alice Dora Maude Dorrington
💍 1916/1721

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

25
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
2 years

St Peter's Church, Wellington

6590

19 December 1916

Rev. A. W. Payne

No	1115
Date of Notice	19 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mackay	Alice Dora Maude Dottington
BDM Match (92%)	John MacKay	Alice Dora Maude Dorrington
	💍 1916/1721
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	6590
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Payne

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).