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 1795

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar R. F. Boulton

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

276

14 April 1919

Herbert Henry Sutor Compton
Alice Shirley Ranson Lee

Herbert Henry Sutor Compton
Alice Shirley Ransom Lee
💍 1919/1961

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
20

Wellington
Wellington

Life
15 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki St, Wellington

1757

Thomas Edwin Allen Lee, father

14 April 1919

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	276
Date of Notice	14 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Henry Sutor Compton	Alice Shirley Ranson Lee
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Henry Sutor Compton	Alice Shirley Ransom Lee
	💍 1919/1961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	15 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki St, Wellington
Folio	1757
Consent	Thomas Edwin Allen Lee, father
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

277

14 April 1919

Hubert Edward Robinson
Vera May Newman

Hubert Edward Robinson
Vera May Newman
💍 1919/2236

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

23
23

Wellington
Christchurch

1 year
12 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch

2017

14 April 1919

Rev. J. Long

No	277
Date of Notice	14 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Edward Robinson	Vera May Newman
	💍 1919/2236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Christchurch
Folio	2017
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Long

278

14 April 1919

George Douglas Sutherland
Nellie Ellen Reid

George Douglas Sutherland
Nellie Ellen Reid
💍 1919/1962

George Douglas Franklin
Eveline Cooper Reid
💍 1919/1389

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

23
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 weeks
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Wellington

1758

14 April 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	278
Date of Notice	14 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Douglas Sutherland	Nellie Ellen Reid
	💍 1919/1962
BDM Match (60%)	George Douglas Franklin	Eveline Cooper Reid
	💍 1919/1389
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	1758
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

279

15 April 1919

Gilbert Lewin Whale
Rita Eliza Gini

Gilbert Lewin Whale
Nita Eliza Gini
💍 1919/1964

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
Life

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

1759

15 April 1919

Rev. G. K. Smith

No	279
Date of Notice	15 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Lewin Whale	Rita Eliza Gini
BDM Match (97%)	Gilbert Lewin Whale	Nita Eliza Gini
	💍 1919/1964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	1759
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Smith

280

15 April 1919

John Pearce
Maude Victoria Hannam

John Pearce
Maude Victoria Hannam
💍 1919/1965

Bachelor
Spinster

Slater

34
29

Wellington
Upper Hutt

Life
10 years

Residence of Mrs Davies, 19 Hawkestone Crescent, Wellington

1770

15 April 1919

Rev. S. R. Orr

No	280
Date of Notice	15 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pearce	Maude Victoria Hannam
	💍 1919/1965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slater
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	Life	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Davies, 19 Hawkestone Crescent, Wellington
Folio	1770
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. R. Orr

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).