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 1592

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar J. H. Penhorpe

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

136

15 February 1916

Thomas Alexander Magee
Elsie Edwards

Thomas Alexander Magee
Elsie Edwards
💍 1916/8968

Thomas Alexander McDonald
Ivy Edwards
💍 1916/2282

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

33
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
7 years

Residence of Mr. H. Edwards, 40 Todman Street Brooklyn

1545

15 February 1916

Rev. W. H. Hinton

No	136
Date of Notice	15 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alexander Magee	Elsie Edwards
	💍 1916/8968
BDM Match (67%)	Thomas Alexander McDonald	Ivy Edwards
	💍 1916/2282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. Edwards, 40 Todman Street Brooklyn
Folio	1545
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Hinton

137

15 February 1916

Selwyn Morton Hatfield
Doris Irene Lawrence

Selwyn Morton Chatfield
Doris Irene Lawrence
💍 1916/8969

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

21
18

Wellington
Wellington

5 months
17 years

St. Thomas' Church Wellington

1546

Frederick Edward Lawrence father

15 February 1916

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	137
Date of Notice	15 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Selwyn Morton Hatfield	Doris Irene Lawrence
BDM Match (96%)	Selwyn Morton Chatfield	Doris Irene Lawrence
	💍 1916/8969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 months	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church Wellington
Folio	1546
Consent	Frederick Edward Lawrence father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

138

15 February 1916

Charles Armond Haxton
Catherine Sarah Clark

Charles Armond Haxton
Catherine Sarah Clark
💍 1916/8970

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer

22
24

Lower Hutt
Wellington

4 years
life

Methodist Church Donald McLean Street Wellington

1547

15 February 1916

Rev. J. H. Richards

No	138
Date of Notice	15 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Armond Haxton	Catherine Sarah Clark
	💍 1916/8970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Donald McLean Street Wellington
Folio	1547
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Richards

139

16 February 1916

Guy Neville Money
Betsey May Gibbs

Guy Neville Morey
Betsey May Gibbs
💍 1916/8971

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

25
24

Petone
Petone

5 days
5 days

Church of England, Petone

1548

16 February 1916

Rev. G. B. Stephenson

No	139
Date of Notice	16 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Guy Neville Money	Betsey May Gibbs
BDM Match (97%)	Guy Neville Morey	Betsey May Gibbs
	💍 1916/8971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Petone
Folio	1548
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson

140

16 February 1916

John Burns
Rhoda Major

John Burns
Rhoda Major
💍 1916/8972

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

21
23

Fort Ballance
Wellington

19 years
20 years

St. Peter's Church Wellington

1549

16 February 1916

Rev. T. Gardner

No	140
Date of Notice	16 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Burns	Rhoda Major
	💍 1916/8972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Fort Ballance	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Wellington
Folio	1549
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Gardner

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).