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 1761

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar R. G. Donllin

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

116

18 February 1919

Henry Alexander Little
Beta Madge Crichton

Henry Alexander Little
Betar Madge Crichton
💍 1919/412

Bachelor
Spinster

Consular Official

49
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 weeks
6 months

St. Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington

211

18 February 1919

Reverend J. F. Taylor

No	116
Date of Notice	18 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alexander Little	Beta Madge Crichton
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Alexander Little	Betar Madge Crichton
	💍 1919/412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Consular Official
Age	49	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 weeks	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	211
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Reverend J. F. Taylor

117

18 February 1919

John Henry George Henderson
Elizabeth Helena Lawrence

John Henry George Henderson
Elizabeth Helena Lawrence
💍 1919/413

Bachelor
Spinster

Mail Contractor

23
20

Petone
Petone

3 days
3 days

House of W. Taylor 19 Campbell Street Terrace, Petone

212

Harriet Alice Myles, Mother

18 February 1919

Reverend James McCaw

No	117
Date of Notice	18 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry George Henderson	Elizabeth Helena Lawrence
	💍 1919/413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mail Contractor
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of W. Taylor 19 Campbell Street Terrace, Petone
Folio	212
Consent	Harriet Alice Myles, Mother
Date of Certificate	18 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Reverend James McCaw

118

19 February 1919

Cyril Arthur Hughes
Annie McGill Skinner

Cyril Arthur Hughes
Annie McGill Skinner
💍 1919/414

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller

34
25

Wellington
Island Bay

4 weeks
2 years

St. Mark's Church Wellington

213

19 February 1919

Reverend C. F. Askew

No	118
Date of Notice	19 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Arthur Hughes	Annie McGill Skinner
	💍 1919/414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Island Bay
Length of Residence	4 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church Wellington
Folio	213
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Reverend C. F. Askew

119

19 February 1919

James Hayes
Ellen Jeffrey Cullen

James Hayes
Ellen Jeffrey-Cullen
💍 1919/415

Not heard of wife as alive for 7 years last past
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

48
28

Wellington
Rona Bay

4 weeks
2 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

214

19 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	119
Date of Notice	19 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hayes	Ellen Jeffrey Cullen
BDM Match (98%)	James Hayes	Ellen Jeffrey-Cullen
	💍 1919/415
Condition	Not heard of wife as alive for 7 years last past	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	48	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Rona Bay
Length of Residence	4 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	214
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

120

19 February 1919

John Goss
Violette Maud Simmons

John Goss
Violettie Maud Simmons
💍 1919/416

Bachelor
Spinster

Tobacconist

28
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
25 years

St. Marks Church Wellington

215

19 February 1919

Reverend C. F. Askew

No	120
Date of Notice	19 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Goss	Violette Maud Simmons
BDM Match (98%)	John Goss	Violettie Maud Simmons
	💍 1919/416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church Wellington
Folio	215
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Reverend C. F. Askew

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).