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 1474

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar JH Puckerthorpe

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

126

19 February 1917

Joseph William Hinchey
Helen O'Neill

Joseph William Hinchey
Helen O'Neill
💍 1917/2314

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

20
22

Featherston
Wellington

6 weeks
4 weeks

St. Anne's Church, Wellington

1479

John Hinchey, Father

19 February 1917

Rev. T. Devoy

No	126
Date of Notice	19 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Hinchey	Helen O'Neill
	💍 1917/2314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church, Wellington
Folio	1479
Consent	John Hinchey, Father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Devoy

127

20 February 1917

Charles Benjamin Bowden
Edith Adelaide Voyce

Charles Benjamin Bowden
Edith Adelaide Voyce
💍 1917/1329

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

31
26

Featherston
Wellington

6 weeks
1 month

Trinity Methodist Church, Newtown

460

20 February 1917

Rev. Edward Drake

No	127
Date of Notice	20 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Benjamin Bowden	Edith Adelaide Voyce
	💍 1917/1329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	1 month
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church, Newtown
Folio	460
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Drake

128

20 February 1917

Bertie John Child
Ruby Miriam Stairmand

Bertie John Child
Ruby Mizpah Stairmand
💍 1917/1330

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

26
23

Featherston
Wellington

4 days
20 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki St, Wellington

461

20 February 1917

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	128
Date of Notice	20 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie John Child	Ruby Miriam Stairmand
BDM Match (93%)	Bertie John Child	Ruby Mizpah Stairmand
	💍 1917/1330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki St, Wellington
Folio	461
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

129

20 February 1917

Theodore Francis Bowden
Nettie Florence McSwan

Theodore Francis Bowden
Nettie Florence McSwan
💍 1917/1331

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

30
26

Trentham
Invercargill

7 weeks
13 months

St. Paul's Pro-cathedral, Wellington

462

20 February 1917

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	129
Date of Notice	20 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Francis Bowden	Nettie Florence McSwan
	💍 1917/1331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 weeks	13 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-cathedral, Wellington
Folio	462
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

130

20 February 1917

Edward Maxwell Gilchrist
Lena Mary Simms

Edward Maxwell Gilchrist
Lena Mary Simms
💍 1917/1332

Bachelor
Spinster

Laundryman

38
32

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
12 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

463

20 February 1917

Deputy Registrar

No	130
Date of Notice	20 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Maxwell Gilchrist	Lena Mary Simms
	💍 1917/1332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laundryman
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	463
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).