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 1765

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

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

136

25 February 1919

Harry Edmond Greig
Enone Marguerite Morpeth

Harry Esmond Greig
Oenone Marguerite Morpeth
💍 1919/456

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
Life

St. John's Presbyterian Church Wellington

231

25 February 1919

Rev. J. Paterson

No	136
Date of Notice	25 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Edmond Greig	Enone Marguerite Morpeth
BDM Match (93%)	Harry Esmond Greig	Oenone Marguerite Morpeth
	💍 1919/456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	231
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

137

26 February 1919

Justin Francis Huntly McCarehy
Lottie Ethel May Collie

Justin Francis Huntly McCarthy
Lottie Ethel May Collie
💍 1919/457

Widower 1/10/1917
Spinster

Soldier

45
27

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
1 week

Registrar's Office Wellington

232

26 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	137
Date of Notice	26 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Justin Francis Huntly McCarehy	Lottie Ethel May Collie
BDM Match (98%)	Justin Francis Huntly McCarthy	Lottie Ethel May Collie
	💍 1919/457
Condition	Widower 1/10/1917	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	45	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	232
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

138

26 February 1919

Arthur Laurie Wallace
Doris Vivienne McGregor

Arthur Laurie Wallace
Doris Vivienne McGregor
💍 1919/458

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

20
22

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
17 months

St. Lukes Church Wadestown

233

William Wallace, father

26 February 1919

Rev. J. E. Jones

No	138
Date of Notice	26 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Laurie Wallace	Doris Vivienne McGregor
	💍 1919/458
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	17 months
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church Wadestown
Folio	233
Consent	William Wallace, father
Date of Certificate	26 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Jones

139

26 February 1919

Warren Williams
Eliza Amelia Perkins

Warren Williams
Eliza Amelia Perkins
💍 1919/459

Widower 22/3/1918
Divorced Decree Absolute 13/2/1919

Police Constable

29
46

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
5 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

234

26 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	139
Date of Notice	26 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Warren Williams	Eliza Amelia Perkins
	💍 1919/459
Condition	Widower 22/3/1918	Divorced Decree Absolute 13/2/1919
Profession	Police Constable
Age	29	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	234
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

140

27 February 1919

Edgar Saunders
Ivy Janet Staples

Edgar Saunders
Ivy Janet Staples
💍 1919/436

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

34
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 months

St. Paul's Pro Cathedral Wellington

235

27 February 1919

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	140
Date of Notice	27 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Saunders	Ivy Janet Staples
	💍 1919/436
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro Cathedral Wellington
Folio	235
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

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).