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 1604

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar W. H. Cook

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

196

1 March 1916

Mowbray Evenfell Fisher
Matilda Ellen Evans

Mowbray Grenfell Fisher
Matilda Ellen Evans
💍 1916/4260

Widower 7 September 1915
Widow 28 October 1907

Civil Servant

48
50

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
14 years

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

1590

1 March 1916

Rev. C. F. Askew

No	196
Date of Notice	1 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mowbray Evenfell Fisher	Matilda Ellen Evans
BDM Match (96%)	Mowbray Grenfell Fisher	Matilda Ellen Evans
	💍 1916/4260
Condition	Widower 7 September 1915	Widow 28 October 1907
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	48	50
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	1590
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew

197

1 March 1916

Horatio de Courcey Martelli
Charlotte Robinetta Scott

Horatio De Courcey Martelle
Charlotte Robinetta Scott
💍 1916/4261

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

25
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
8 months

St. James' Church, Wellington

1591

1 March 1916

Rev. W. Shirer

No	197
Date of Notice	1 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horatio de Courcey Martelli	Charlotte Robinetta Scott
BDM Match (96%)	Horatio De Courcey Martelle	Charlotte Robinetta Scott
	💍 1916/4261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	8 months
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, Wellington
Folio	1591
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

198

2 March 1916

Frederick Sinclair
Elizabeth Jennings

Frederick Sinclair
Elizabeth Jennings
💍 1916/8771

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

27
30

Wellington
Wellington

2 days
3 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

850

2 March 1916

Deputy Registrar

No	198
Date of Notice	2 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Sinclair	Elizabeth Jennings
	💍 1916/8771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	850
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

199

2 March 1916

John Frederick Rager
Emily Christina Housemette

John Frederick Eager
Emily Christina Gousemette
💍 1916/4262

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram conductor

22
23

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
9 months

Residence of Mrs. R. McLeod, 96 Dixon St, Wellington

1592

2 March 1916

Rev. J. Gibb

No	199
Date of Notice	2 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Rager	Emily Christina Housemette
BDM Match (96%)	John Frederick Eager	Emily Christina Gousemette
	💍 1916/4262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram conductor
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. R. McLeod, 96 Dixon St, Wellington
Folio	1592
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

200

3 March 1916

Alfred Oswald Smith
Bessie Lockyer

Alfred Oswald Smith
Bessie Lockyer
💍 1916/3784

Bachelor
Divorcee Decree Absolute January 1913

Soldier

35
31

Trentham
Wellington

2 weeks
6 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

851

3 March 1916

Deputy Registrar

No	200
Date of Notice	3 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Oswald Smith	Bessie Lockyer
	💍 1916/3784
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee Decree Absolute January 1913
Profession	Soldier
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	851
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).