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 1563

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar D. D. O'Rourke

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

11 September 1919

Jesse Haugh Thorp
Emma Mary Florence Rose

Jesse Haigh Thorp
Emma May Florence Rose
💍 1919/6487

Widower
Spinster

Grocers Assistant
Domestic

43
30

Foxton
Mangatainoka

1 1/2 years
30 years

Registrars Office Pahiatua

5942

11 September 1919

D. D. O'Rourke, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	11 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jesse Haugh Thorp	Emma Mary Florence Rose
BDM Match (95%)	Jesse Haigh Thorp	Emma May Florence Rose
	💍 1919/6487
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Grocers Assistant	Domestic
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Mangatainoka
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Pahiatua
Folio	5942
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1919
Officiating Minister	D. D. O'Rourke, Registrar

12 September 1919

William Henry Couchman
Eva Webb

William Henry Couchman
Eva Webb
💍 1919/6489

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
Domestic Duties

20
20

Konini
Konini

4 years
15 years

Church of England Pahiatua

5943

Emma Selina Hinton, Mother; Walter George Webb, Father

12 September 1919

Rev H. W. Monaghan, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	12 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Couchman	Eva Webb
	💍 1919/6489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	Domestic Duties
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Konini	Konini
Length of Residence	4 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Pahiatua
Folio	5943
Consent	Emma Selina Hinton, Mother; Walter George Webb, Father
Date of Certificate	12 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. W. Monaghan, Church of England

19 September 1919

Philip Charles Hardman
Elaine Jannie Banks

Philip Charles Hardman
Elaine Vannin Banks
💍 1919/6490

Bachelor
Spinster

Professor of Singing
Domestic Duties

36
30

Makairo
Makairo

3 days
5 days

Residence of Mr R. C. Ellingham, Makairo

5944

19 September 1919

Rev H. W. Monaghan, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	19 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Charles Hardman	Elaine Jannie Banks
BDM Match (95%)	Philip Charles Hardman	Elaine Vannin Banks
	💍 1919/6490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Professor of Singing	Domestic Duties
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Makairo	Makairo
Length of Residence	3 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr R. C. Ellingham, Makairo
Folio	5944
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. W. Monaghan, Church of England

19 September 1919

Frank Limbrick
Evelyn Webb

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

21
19

Konini
Konini

14 days
18 years

Registrars Office Pahiatua

Not solemnized cert attached

Walter George Webb, Father

19 September 1919

D. D. O'Rourke, Registrar

No	29
Date of Notice	19 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Limbrick	Evelyn Webb
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Konini	Konini
Length of Residence	14 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Pahiatua
Folio	Not solemnized cert attached
Consent	Walter George Webb, Father
Date of Certificate	19 September 1919
Officiating Minister	D. D. O'Rourke, Registrar

26 September 1919

Alexander Robert McPhail
Ada Mary Murcott

Alexander Robertson McPhail
Ada Mary Murcott
💍 1919/6491

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
22

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

28 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church Pahiatua

5945

26 September 1919

Rev R. Welsh, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	26 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Robert McPhail	Ada Mary Murcott
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Robertson McPhail	Ada Mary Murcott
	💍 1919/6491
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	28 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Pahiatua
Folio	5945
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Welsh, Presbyterian

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).