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 1706

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar J. H. Pharazyn

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

696

10 July 1916

Frederick Hamilton McIlraith
Katie Jane Swan Watson

Frederick Hamilton McIlraith
Katie Jane Swan Watson
💍 1916/7183

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

31
29

Featherston
Wellington

2 months
3 weeks

Residence of Mrs. W. H. McIlraith, 49 Coromandel Street, Wellington

4718

10 July 1916

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	696
Date of Notice	10 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hamilton McIlraith	Katie Jane Swan Watson
	💍 1916/7183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. W. H. McIlraith, 49 Coromandel Street, Wellington
Folio	4718
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

697

10 July 1916

William Preston Tyson
Dorothy Ellen Langdon

William Preston Tyson
Dorothy Ellen Langdon
💍 1916/7184

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

50
30

Mamaku
Wellington

6 months
1 month

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

4719

10 July 1916

Rev. C. F. Askew

No	697
Date of Notice	10 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Preston Tyson	Dorothy Ellen Langdon
	💍 1916/7184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	50	30
Dwelling Place	Mamaku	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	4719
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew

698

11 July 1916

Matthew Williams
Hilma Evelyn Noble

Matthew Williams
Hilma Evelyn Noble
💍 1916/7185

Bachelor
Spinster

Trainer

35
22

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
8 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4720

11 July 1916

Deputy Registrar

No	698
Date of Notice	11 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Williams	Hilma Evelyn Noble
	💍 1916/7185
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trainer
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4720
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

699

11 July 1916

George Alexander Slater
Jessie Thomson Bewley

George Alexander Frater
Jessie Thomson Bewley
💍 1916/13428

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist

26
33

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 years

Church of Christ, Rintoul Street, Wellington

4721

11 July 1916

Mr. W. Phillips

No	699
Date of Notice	11 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alexander Slater	Jessie Thomson Bewley
BDM Match (96%)	George Alexander Frater	Jessie Thomson Bewley
	💍 1916/13428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist
Age	26	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Rintoul Street, Wellington
Folio	4721
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Mr. W. Phillips

700

11 July 1916

Henry Thomas Edwards
Mabel Viola Maxwell

Henry Thomas Edwards
Mabel Viola Maxwell
💍 1916/7187

Bachelor
Widow 10 August 1915

Decorator

23
31

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Residence of C. Woodward, 74 Bay Road, Kilbirnie

4722

11 July 1916

Rev. C. H. Standage

No	700
Date of Notice	11 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Edwards	Mabel Viola Maxwell
	💍 1916/7187
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 10 August 1915
Profession	Decorator
Age	23	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of C. Woodward, 74 Bay Road, Kilbirnie
Folio	4722
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Standage

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).