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 1038

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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

15 May 1917

Harold Richardson Horsnell
Doris Emma Murrow

Harold Richardson Horsnell
Doris Emma Murrow
💍 1917/3530

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier (late clerk)
Clerk

23
21

Napier
Napier

5 days
21 years

St. Augustines Church, Napier

2773

15 May 1917

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	15 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Richardson Horsnell	Doris Emma Murrow
	💍 1917/3530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier (late clerk)	Clerk
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church, Napier
Folio	2773
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

16 May 1917

Richard Dann
Christiana Elizabeth Rennie

Richard Dann
Christina Elizabeth Rennie
💍 1917/3531

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

22
19

Napier
Westshore

10 years
19 years

Residence of Rev. J. K. Richards, Napier

2774

Thrustene Christjansen, Grandmother & Guardian

16 May 1917

Rev. J. K. Richards, Methodist

No	40
Date of Notice	16 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Dann	Christiana Elizabeth Rennie
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Dann	Christina Elizabeth Rennie
	💍 1917/3531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Westshore
Length of Residence	10 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. K. Richards, Napier
Folio	2774
Consent	Thrustene Christjansen, Grandmother & Guardian
Date of Certificate	16 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Richards, Methodist

17 May 1917

George Cecil Thornton
Mabel Siddells

George Cecil Thornton
Mabel Siddells
💍 1917/3681

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Milliner

32
28

Clive
Wanganui

32 years
1 week

Presbyterian Church, Wanganui

2948

17 May 1917

Rev. David Shaw, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	17 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cecil Thornton	Mabel Siddells
	💍 1917/3681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Milliner
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Clive	Wanganui
Length of Residence	32 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Wanganui
Folio	2948
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Shaw, Presbyterian

21 May 1917

James David Martin
Lily Braid

James David Martin
Lily Braid
💍 1917/3532

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Dressmaker

22
23

Napier
Napier

22 years
6 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

2775

21 May 1917

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	42
Date of Notice	21 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James David Martin	Lily Braid
	💍 1917/3532
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Dressmaker
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	22 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	2775
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

23 May 1917

William Benson Routley
Winifred Vera Guildford

William Benson Routley
Winifred Vera Guildford
💍 1917/3540

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

26
22

Napier
Gisborne

3 days
8 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

2776

23 May 1917

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	23 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Benson Routley	Winifred Vera Guildford
	💍 1917/3540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 days	8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	2776
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1917
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, 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).