Intentions to Marry, 1917 Aria to Masterton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840471, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1917 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.

1917c contains pages 862-1282, covering districts from Aria to Masterton

Page 1055

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1917 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

107

11 December 1917

Archibald Langwill Suttie
Mary Violet Gray

Archibald Langwill Suttie
Mary Violet Gray
💍 1917/6160

Bachelor
Spinster

Tanner
Domestic Duties

46
39

Napier
Napier

6 weeks
5 days

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

5994

11 December 1917

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	107
Date of Notice	11 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Langwill Suttie	Mary Violet Gray
	💍 1917/6160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tanner	Domestic Duties
Age	46	39
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 weeks	5 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	5994
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

108

12 December 1917

William Bennett
Olive Stephens

Willliam Bennett
Olive Stephens
💍 1917/6161

Widower 28th October 1916
Spinster

Railway Surfaceman
Domestic

27
21

Awatoto
Napier

10 months
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Napier

5995

12 December 1917

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	108
Date of Notice	12 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bennett	Olive Stephens
BDM Match (97%)	Willliam Bennett	Olive Stephens
	💍 1917/6161
Condition	Widower 28th October 1916	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfaceman	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Awatoto	Napier
Length of Residence	10 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Napier
Folio	5995
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

109

13 December 1917

Horace Frederick Bourne
Elizabeth Springfield

Horace Frederick Bourne
Elizabeth Springfield
💍 1917/6162

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Housekeeper

27
22

Napier
Napier

3 years
22 years

St. Augustines Church, Napier

5996

13 December 1917

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	109
Date of Notice	13 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Frederick Bourne	Elizabeth Springfield
	💍 1917/6162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Housekeeper
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church, Napier
Folio	5996
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

110

17 December 1917

Albert James Dyer
Alice Catherine Macdonald

Albert James Dyer
Alice Catherine Macdonald
💍 1917/6163

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

62
60

Napier
Napier

5 weeks
37 years

Residence of Miss Macdonald, Owen Street, Napier

5997

17 December 1917

Rev. Alfred Hodge, Congregational

No	110
Date of Notice	17 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Dyer	Alice Catherine Macdonald
	💍 1917/6163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	62	60
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 weeks	37 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Miss Macdonald, Owen Street, Napier
Folio	5997
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Hodge, Congregational

111

20 December 1917

William Harper Graham Campbell
Elizabeth Jane Morn McCartney

William Harper Graham Campbell
Elizabeth Jane Morn McCartney
💍 1917/6164

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier (late Outfitter)
Teacher

32
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

9 years
4 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

5998

20 December 1917

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	111
Date of Notice	20 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Harper Graham Campbell	Elizabeth Jane Morn McCartney
	💍 1917/6164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier (late Outfitter)	Teacher
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	5998
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

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).