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 1648

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

972

11 December 1917

Reginald Eustace Dovey
Edith Gertrude Elliott

Reginald Eustace Dovey
Edith Gertrude Elliott
💍 1917/5738

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
23

Brooklyn
Brooklyn

19 years
5 years

Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

5370

11 December 1917

Deputy Registrar Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	972
Date of Notice	11 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Eustace Dovey	Edith Gertrude Elliott
	💍 1917/5738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	19 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	5370
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar Rev. J. G. Chapman

973

12 December 1917

Albert Henry Soper
Victoria Ingbour Turvey

Albert Henry Soper
Victoria Ingbour Turvey
💍 1917/5739

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

23
18

H. M. S. Philomel
Wellington

8 months
6 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

17/5371

Matilda Ellicott formerly Turvey, Mother

12 December 1917

Deputy Registrar

No	973
Date of Notice	12 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Soper	Victoria Ingbour Turvey
	💍 1917/5739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	H. M. S. Philomel	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	17/5371
Consent	Matilda Ellicott formerly Turvey, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

974

12 December 1917

William Henry Fogg
Mary Hester Conway

William Henry Fogg
Mary Hester Conway
💍 1917/5740

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

49
29

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

5372

12 December 1917

Deputy Registrar

No	974
Date of Notice	12 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Fogg	Mary Hester Conway
	💍 1917/5740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	49	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	5372
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

975

12 December 1917

James Barclay
Jessie Mitchell Selkirk

James Barclay
Jeanie Mitchell Selkirk
💍 1917/5741

Widower 6/8/1906
Spinster

Tailor

46
45

Wellington, Wadestown
Wellington

22 years
10 years

Res. of Mr. Wm. Selkirk, Lytton St., Wadestown

5373

12 December 1917

Rev. E. J. Dabourne

No	975
Date of Notice	12 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Barclay	Jessie Mitchell Selkirk
BDM Match (96%)	James Barclay	Jeanie Mitchell Selkirk
	💍 1917/5741
Condition	Widower 6/8/1906	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	46	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington, Wadestown	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Res. of Mr. Wm. Selkirk, Lytton St., Wadestown
Folio	5373
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Dabourne

976

12 December 1917

George Edward James Wills
Eileen Maud Myrtle Thompson

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
18

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
18 years

Church of England, Roseneath

Not used, reattached

Charles Thompson, father

12 December 1917

Rev. Robt. Franklin

No	976
Date of Notice	12 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward James Wills	Eileen Maud Myrtle Thompson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Roseneath
Folio	Not used, reattached
Consent	Charles Thompson, father
Date of Certificate	12 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. Franklin

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).