Intentions to Marry, 1919 Martinborough to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840484, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919d contains pages 1503-2000, covering districts from Martinborough to Wellington

Page 1523

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar J. Miller

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

9 August 1919

Thomas Hugh Dudley Symes
Dorothea Esther Jackson

Thomas Hugh Dudley Symes
Dorothea Esther Jackson
💍 1919/6473

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Retired Schoolteacher

29
27

Masterton
Masterton

3 Days
Lifetime

St Matthews Church of England at Masterton

5903

9 August 1919

Rev John Walker, Church of England

No	46
Date of Notice	9 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hugh Dudley Symes	Dorothea Esther Jackson
	💍 1919/6473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Retired Schoolteacher
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 Days	Lifetime
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church of England at Masterton
Folio	5903
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev John Walker, Church of England

12 August 1919

Sydney Clifford Bishop
Daisy Elizabeth Capon

Sydney Clifford Bishop
Daisy Elizabeth Capon
💍 1919/6474

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
21

Masterton
Masterton

4 Days
2 Years

St Matthews Church of England at Masterton

5904

12 August 1919

Rev John Walker, Church of England

No	47
Date of Notice	12 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Clifford Bishop	Daisy Elizabeth Capon
	💍 1919/6474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	4 Days	2 Years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church of England at Masterton
Folio	5904
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev John Walker, Church of England

25 August 1919

Herbert Edward Duckett
Frances Ida Brittley

Herbert Edward Duckett
Franceit Idy Brittley
💍 1919/6475

Widower 13 May 1917
Widow 6 February 1915

Farmer
Household Duties

42
33

Masterton
Masterton

1 month
1 month

Registrars Office at Masterton

5905

25 August 1919

J. Miller Registrar

No	48
Date of Notice	25 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Edward Duckett	Frances Ida Brittley
BDM Match (93%)	Herbert Edward Duckett	Franceit Idy Brittley
	💍 1919/6475
Condition	Widower 13 May 1917	Widow 6 February 1915
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	42	33
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrars Office at Masterton
Folio	5905
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1919
Officiating Minister	J. Miller Registrar

30 August 1919

Alfred Leslie Bailey
Elsie Mary King

Alfred Leslie Bailey
Elsie May King
💍 1919/6476

Bachelor
Spinster

Member of N.Z. Expeditionary Force
Domestic Duties

26
25

Masterton
Masterton

1 Week
10 Years

Methodist Church at Masterton

5906

30 August 1919

Rev James Cocker, Methodist

No	49
Date of Notice	30 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Leslie Bailey	Elsie Mary King
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Leslie Bailey	Elsie May King
	💍 1919/6476
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Member of N.Z. Expeditionary Force	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	1 Week	10 Years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church at Masterton
Folio	5906
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev James Cocker, Methodist

2 September 1919

George Edwin Henry Brown
Flora Dorothy Daysh

George Edwin Henry Brown
Flora Dorothy Daysh
💍 1919/6453

Bachelor
Widow 21 October 1918

Slaughterman
Domestic Duties

20
23

Masterton
Masterton

6 years
6 Months

St Matthews Church of England at Masterton

5907

Edwin Brown

2 September 1919

Rev John Walker, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	2 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edwin Henry Brown	Flora Dorothy Daysh
	💍 1919/6453
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 21 October 1918
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic Duties
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	6 years	6 Months
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church of England at Masterton
Folio	5907
Consent	Edwin Brown
Date of Certificate	2 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev John Walker, Church of England

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).