Intentions to Marry, 1917 Mauriceville to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840472, 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.

1917d contains pages 1283-1664, covering districts from Mauriceville to Wellington

Page 1465

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar W. Pasthorpe

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

31 January 1917

Francis Gordon Fendall
Marian Sophia Maclaine

Francis Gordon Fendall
Marian Sophia Maclaine
💍 1917/44

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

27
29

Lower Hutt
Blenheim

1 year
Life

Church of the Nativity Blenheim

1200

31 January 1917

Rev. T. S. Grace

No	81
Date of Notice	31 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Gordon Fendall	Marian Sophia Maclaine
	💍 1917/44
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Blenheim
Length of Residence	1 year	Life
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity Blenheim
Folio	1200
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. S. Grace

1 February 1917

Robert Pilcher
Gladys May Jarvis

Robert Pilcher
Gladys May Jarvis
💍 1917/1291

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

23
21

Trentham
Wellington

2 weeks
1 week

Registrar's Office Wellington

421

1 February 1917

Deputy Registrar

No	82
Date of Notice	1 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Pilcher	Gladys May Jarvis
	💍 1917/1291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	421
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

2 February 1917

James Garde Christopher Grimshaw
Florence Louisa Egg Hepburn-Lyall

James Garde Christopher Grimshaw
Florence Louisa Gagg Hepburn-Lyall
💍 1917/1292

Bachelor
Widow 29 Feb 1915

Farmer

36
32

Featherston
Wellington

6 weeks
10 days

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

422

2 February 1917

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	83
Date of Notice	2 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Garde Christopher Grimshaw	Florence Louisa Egg Hepburn-Lyall
BDM Match (97%)	James Garde Christopher Grimshaw	Florence Louisa Gagg Hepburn-Lyall
	💍 1917/1292
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 29 Feb 1915
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	10 days
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	422
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

2 February 1917

Charles Edward Harrington
Elizabeth Grace Ward

Charles Edward Harrington
Elizabeth Grace Ward
💍 1917/1293

Bachelor
Spinster

Warder

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
20 years

St Mark's Church Wellington

423

2 February 1917

Rev. C. F. Askew

No	84
Date of Notice	2 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Harrington	Elizabeth Grace Ward
	💍 1917/1293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warder
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church Wellington
Folio	423
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew

2 February 1917

Peter Hamilton Miller
Mary Rose

Peter Hamilton Miller
Mary Rose
💍 1917/1294

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

38
37

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
16 years

Residence of Mrs. Rose, 219 Vivian St.

424

2 February 1917

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	85
Date of Notice	2 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Hamilton Miller	Mary Rose
	💍 1917/1294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	38	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Rose, 219 Vivian St.
Folio	424
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

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).