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 1793

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

266

11 April 1919

David Edmond Barnes
Lucy Shotton Fernie

David Edmond Barnes
Lucy Shotton Fernie
💍 1919/2863

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

37
31

Wellington
Dunedin

31 years
17 years

Congregational Church, Moray Place, Dunedin

2652

11 April 1919

Rev. W. Saunders

No	266
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Edmond Barnes	Lucy Shotton Fernie
	💍 1919/2863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	37	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	31 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Moray Place, Dunedin
Folio	2652
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Saunders

267

11 April 1919

Archibald Corkhill Allan
Annie Ballard Hartill

Archibald Corkhill Allan
Annie Ballard Hartill
💍 1919/1976

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

31
26

Wellington
Wellington

31 years
11 years

St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

1758

11 April 1919

Rev. T. F. Taylor

No	267
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Corkhill Allan	Annie Ballard Hartill
	💍 1919/1976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	31 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	1758
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. F. Taylor

268

11 April 1919

James William Millen
Ellen Margaret Bryant

James William Millen
Ellen Margaret Bryant
💍 1919/1953

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

37
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 Days
3 Days

Residence of S Beckingham, 52 Ellice Street, Wellington

1559

11 April 1919

Rev. S. Beckingham

No	268
Date of Notice	11 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Millen	Ellen Margaret Bryant
	💍 1919/1953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Days
Marriage Place	Residence of S Beckingham, 52 Ellice Street, Wellington
Folio	1559
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Beckingham

269

12 April 1919

George Ralph Rogers
Ettie May Wootton

George Ralph Rogers
Ettie May Wootton
💍 1919/1954

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiard Table Maker

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
27 years

St Marks Church, Wellington

1680

12 April 1919

Rev. A. T. B. Page

No	269
Date of Notice	12 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ralph Rogers	Ettie May Wootton
	💍 1919/1954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiard Table Maker
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	1680
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. B. Page

270

12 April 1919

George Vincent Kendrick
Edith Annie Berry

George Vincent Kendrick
Edith Annie Berry
💍 1919/1955

Widower 6/6/1917
Spinster

Clergyman

36
30

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
14 years

St Pauls Church, Wellington

1761

12 April 1919

Rev. A. W. Johnson

No	270
Date of Notice	12 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Vincent Kendrick	Edith Annie Berry
	💍 1919/1955
Condition	Widower 6/6/1917	Spinster
Profession	Clergyman
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	14 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Wellington
Folio	1761
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. 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).