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 1735

District of Waverley Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar W. B. Canning

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

10 October 1919

Rodric Symes
Bertha Maude Southcombe

Rodric Symes
Bertha Maud Southcombe
💍 1919/9227

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
21

Waverley
Waverley

19 years
17 years

Church of England Waverley

8963

10 October 1919

Rev. Wm. J. Hands

No	16
Date of Notice	10 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rodric Symes	Bertha Maude Southcombe
BDM Match (98%)	Rodric Symes	Bertha Maud Southcombe
	💍 1919/9227
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Waverley
Length of Residence	19 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Waverley
Folio	8963
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. J. Hands

11 October 1919

Ernest Clifton Hone
Ethel Grace Campbell

Ernest Clifton Hone
Ethel Grace Campbell
💍 1919/9228

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
27

Kohi
Kohi

22 years
8 years

Saint Stephen's Church Waverley

8964

11 October 1919

Rev. Wm. J. Hands

No	17
Date of Notice	11 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Clifton Hone	Ethel Grace Campbell
	💍 1919/9228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Kohi	Kohi
Length of Residence	22 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Saint Stephen's Church Waverley
Folio	8964
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. J. Hands

14 October 1919

Herbert William Cox
Nora Catherine O'Leary

Herbert William Cox
Nora Catherine OLeary
💍 1919/9229

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Domestic

25
26

Waverley
Waverley

2 years
6 months

Roman Catholic Church Waverley

8965

14 October 1919

Rev. Edward Duffy

No	18
Date of Notice	14 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Cox	Nora Catherine O'Leary
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert William Cox	Nora Catherine OLeary
	💍 1919/9229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Domestic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Waverley
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Waverley
Folio	8965
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward Duffy

29 October 1919

Andrew Peter Gordon Grant
Flora Johnston

Andrew Peter Gordon Grant
Flora Johnston
💍 1919/9230

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Driver
Dressmaker

29
24

Waverley
Waverley

7 years
24 years

Residence of Bride's Parents Bear Street Waverley

8966

29 October 1919

Rev. Donald McIvor

No	19
Date of Notice	29 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Peter Gordon Grant	Flora Johnston
	💍 1919/9230
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Driver	Dressmaker
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Waverley
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Parents Bear Street Waverley
Folio	8966
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Donald McIvor

3 December 1919

Albert Kendall Fyson
Clarice Christina Dickie

Albert Kemball Tyson
Clarice Christina Dickie
💍 1919/9231

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

26
24

Hawera
Waverley

17 months
24 years

Saint Andrews Church Waverley

8967

3 December 1919

Rev. Donald McIvor

No	20
Date of Notice	3 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Kendall Fyson	Clarice Christina Dickie
BDM Match (93%)	Albert Kemball Tyson	Clarice Christina Dickie
	💍 1919/9231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Waverley
Length of Residence	17 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Saint Andrews Church Waverley
Folio	8967
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Donald McIvor

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).