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 1579

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar R. G. Poulton

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

631

3 August 1917

Clifford Peel
Alice Jupp

Clifford Peel
Alice Jupp
💍 1917/647

Bachelor
Divorcee Decree absolute 3 August 1917

Commercial Traveller

32
35

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
19 years

Residence of Rev. G. E. Hale, Ghuznee Street, Wellington

3744

3 August 1917

Rev. G. E. Hale

No	631
Date of Notice	3 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Peel	Alice Jupp
	💍 1917/647
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee Decree absolute 3 August 1917
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	32	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. E. Hale, Ghuznee Street, Wellington
Folio	3744
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Hale

632

6 August 1917

George Moore
Marjorie Jane Prendergast Knight

George Moore
Marjorie Jane Prendergast Knight
💍 1917/649

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

35
19

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
19 years

St Pauls Procathedral, Wellington

3745

Charles Prendergast Knight, Father

6 August 1917

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	632
Date of Notice	6 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Moore	Marjorie Jane Prendergast Knight
	💍 1917/649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	19 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Procathedral, Wellington
Folio	3745
Consent	Charles Prendergast Knight, Father
Date of Certificate	6 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

633

6 August 1917

William Edward Sime
Elizabeth Jane Hutchinson

William Edward Sime
Elizabeth Jane Hutchinson
💍 1917/650

Bachelor
Divorcee Decree absolute 1/3/1917

Seaman

37
38

S. S. Maori
Wellington

2 weeks
5 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

3746

6 August 1917

Deputy Registrar

No	633
Date of Notice	6 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Sime	Elizabeth Jane Hutchinson
	💍 1917/650
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee Decree absolute 1/3/1917
Profession	Seaman
Age	37	38
Dwelling Place	S. S. Maori	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	3746
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

634

6 August 1917

James William Matthews
Esme Elizabeth Hawke

James William Matthews
Esme Elizabeth Hawke
💍 1917/651

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
17 years

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

3747

Alice Mary Hawke, mother

6 August 1917

Rev. C. F. Askew

No	634
Date of Notice	6 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Matthews	Esme Elizabeth Hawke
	💍 1917/651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	3747
Consent	Alice Mary Hawke, mother
Date of Certificate	6 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew

635

7 August 1917

John Albert Govan McGregor
Gladys Isabella Emily Malcolm

John Albert Govan McGregor
Gladys Isabella Emily Malcolm
💍 1917/652

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

27
25

Featherston
Wellington

5 months
25 years

St Paul's Procathedral, Wellington (Member NZEF)

3748

7 August 1917

Rev A. M. Johnson

No	635
Date of Notice	7 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Albert Govan McGregor	Gladys Isabella Emily Malcolm
	💍 1917/652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 months	25 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Procathedral, Wellington (Member NZEF)
Folio	3748
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev A. M. Johnson

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).