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 1502

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar J. P. Heatherhorpe

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

256

02 April 1917

Thomas Alexander Ryan
Johanna Noon

Thomas Alexander Ryan
Johanna Noon
💍 1917/3011

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

40
36

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
20 years

St. Anne's Church, Newtown

2215

02 April 1917

Rev. M. Devoy

No	256
Date of Notice	02 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alexander Ryan	Johanna Noon
	💍 1917/3011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	40	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church, Newtown
Folio	2215
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Devoy

257

02 April 1917

Robert Yorston Thompson
Frances May Edkins

Robert Yorston Thompson
Francis May Edkins
💍 1917/3012

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant

19
19

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
10 years

Residence of Mrs. Edkins, 79 Taranaki Street, Wellington

2216

Annie Debora Swiffen, mother; Emily Maud Edkins, mother

02 April 1917

Rev. W. Shires

No	257
Date of Notice	02 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Yorston Thompson	Frances May Edkins
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Yorston Thompson	Francis May Edkins
	💍 1917/3012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Edkins, 79 Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	2216
Consent	Annie Debora Swiffen, mother; Emily Maud Edkins, mother
Date of Certificate	02 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shires

258

02 April 1917

Francis James Davey
Alice Fanny Corbett

Francis James Davey
Alice Fanny Corbett
💍 1917/3013

Widower 18/12/1913
Spinster

Farmer

30
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

2217

02 April 1917

Deputy Registrar

No	258
Date of Notice	02 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis James Davey	Alice Fanny Corbett
	💍 1917/3013
Condition	Widower 18/12/1913	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	2217
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

259

02 April 1917

Harold Francis Woosnam
Alice Ellen Tricker

Harold Francis Woosnam
Alice Ellen Tricker
💍 1917/3014

Bachelor
Widow 29/1/1911

Leading Cook R.N.

36
39

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
5 years

Residence of Mrs. Tricker, 184 Taranaki Rd, Wellington

2218

02 April 1917

Rev. A. Reader

No	259
Date of Notice	02 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Francis Woosnam	Alice Ellen Tricker
	💍 1917/3014
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 29/1/1911
Profession	Leading Cook R.N.
Age	36	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Tricker, 184 Taranaki Rd, Wellington
Folio	2218
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reader

260

02 April 1917

Alfred James Boles
Hilda Irene Dartnell

Alfred James Coles
Hilda Irene Dartnell
💍 1917/3015

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

24
17

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
6 years

St. Thomas' Church, Wellington

2219

Harry Dartnell, father

02 April 1917

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	260
Date of Notice	02 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Boles	Hilda Irene Dartnell
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred James Coles	Hilda Irene Dartnell
	💍 1917/3015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Wellington
Folio	2219
Consent	Harry Dartnell, father
Date of Certificate	02 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

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).