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 1456

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar J. A. Thorpe

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

16 January 1917

William Robert Chaplin
Annie Elizabeth Lenora Hutchin

William Robert Chaplin
Annie Elizabeth Tereora Hutchin
💍 1917/1272

Bachelor
Spinster

master mariner

28
26

Wellington
Wellington

2 days
3 years

Congregational Church, Constable Street, Wellington

378

16 January 1917

Rev. G. H. Smith

No	36
Date of Notice	16 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Chaplin	Annie Elizabeth Lenora Hutchin
BDM Match (95%)	William Robert Chaplin	Annie Elizabeth Tereora Hutchin
	💍 1917/1272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	master mariner
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Constable Street, Wellington
Folio	378
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Smith

16 January 1917

Henry Martin Connor
Madeline Ruby Blaxall

Henry Martin Connor
Madeline Ruby Blaxall
💍 1917/1273

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
21

Seatoun
Seatoun

20 years
2 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

379

16 January 1917

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	37
Date of Notice	16 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Martin Connor	Madeline Ruby Blaxall
	💍 1917/1273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Seatoun	Seatoun
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	379
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

16 January 1917

Norman Campbell Austin
Florrie Wayne

Norman Campbell Austin
Florrie Wayne
💍 1917/1274

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

29
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
6 years

St Paul's Pro Cathedral Wellington

380

16 January 1917

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	38
Date of Notice	16 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Campbell Austin	Florrie Wayne
	💍 1917/1274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro Cathedral Wellington
Folio	380
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

17 January 1917

Edgar Sidney Henry Hooper
Margaret Florence Louisa Anderson

Edyar Sidney Henry Hooper
Margaret Florence Louisa Anderson
💍 1917/1275

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
25

Trentham
Wellington

3 months
5 days

St Peter's Church Wellington

381

17 January 1917

Rev. H. Watson

No	39
Date of Notice	17 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Sidney Henry Hooper	Margaret Florence Louisa Anderson
BDM Match (98%)	Edyar Sidney Henry Hooper	Margaret Florence Louisa Anderson
	💍 1917/1275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	5 days
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church Wellington
Folio	381
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

17 January 1917

Frederick William Matthews
Ira Geraldine Wiggins

Frederick Gwillim Matthews
Ira Geraldine Wiggins
💍 1917/1276

Bachelor
Spinster

Secretary Defence Minister

36
30

Featherston
Wellington

2 months
Life

Residence of Mr. W. Wiggins 157 The Terrace Wellington

382

17 January 1917

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	40
Date of Notice	17 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Matthews	Ira Geraldine Wiggins
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Gwillim Matthews	Ira Geraldine Wiggins
	💍 1917/1276
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Secretary Defence Minister
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Wiggins 157 The Terrace Wellington
Folio	382
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).