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 1748

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

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

896

3 October 1916

Alfred Edward Jeffree
Dora Beatrice Church

Alfred Edward Lobb Jeffree
Dora Beatrice Church
💍 1916/1572

Bachelor
Spinster

Fire Brigadesman

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

6390

no person in N.Z. authorized by law to give consent

18 October 1916

Deputy Registrar

No	896
Date of Notice	3 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Jeffree	Dora Beatrice Church
BDM Match (90%)	Alfred Edward Lobb Jeffree	Dora Beatrice Church
	💍 1916/1572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fire Brigadesman
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	6390
Consent	no person in N.Z. authorized by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

897

3 October 1916

Robert Diack
Elizabeth Alice Wright

Robert Diack
Elizabeth Alice Wright
💍 1916/1573

Widower 25/11/1915
Spinster

Carpenter

38
28

Petone
Petone

3 months
2 weeks

St. Augustine's Church, Petone

6391

3 October 1916

Rev. J. B. Stephenson

No	897
Date of Notice	3 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Diack	Elizabeth Alice Wright
	💍 1916/1573
Condition	Widower 25/11/1915	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Petone
Folio	6391
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Stephenson

898

3 October 1916

Thomas Wardlaw
Isabella Smith

Thomas Wardlaw
Isabella Smith
💍 1916/1574

Bachelor
Widow 19/8/1914

Plumber

36
36

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
10 years

Methodist manse, 21 Hankey Street, Wellington

6392

3 October 1916

Rev. E. H. Smith

No	898
Date of Notice	3 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wardlaw	Isabella Smith
	💍 1916/1574
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 19/8/1914
Profession	Plumber
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist manse, 21 Hankey Street, Wellington
Folio	6392
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Smith

899

4 October 1916

Frederick George O'Neill
Adeline Burn

Frederick George O'Neill
Adeline Burn
💍 1916/1575

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

29
30

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
20 years

Church of England, Brooklyn

6393

4 October 1916

Rev. R. H. Hobday

No	899
Date of Notice	4 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George O'Neill	Adeline Burn
	💍 1916/1575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Brooklyn
Folio	6393
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Hobday

900

4 October 1916

Frank Hubert Woodward
Helena Arethusa Burrange

Frank Hubert Woodward
Helena Arethusa Currange
💍 1916/1576

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

28
28

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
28 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

6394

4 October 1916

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	900
Date of Notice	4 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Hubert Woodward	Helena Arethusa Burrange
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Hubert Woodward	Helena Arethusa Currange
	💍 1916/1576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	6394
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).