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 1805

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar R. B. 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

326

26 April 1919

James Richard Gardener
Eleanor Nora Mills

James Richard Gardiner
Eleanor Vera Mills
💍 1919/2483

Bachelor
Spinster

Finisher

25
20

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
4 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

1814

Frederick Henry Mills Father

26 April 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	326
Date of Notice	26 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Richard Gardener	Eleanor Nora Mills
BDM Match (92%)	James Richard Gardiner	Eleanor Vera Mills
	💍 1919/2483
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Finisher
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	1814
Consent	Frederick Henry Mills Father
Date of Certificate	26 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

327

26 April 1919

Walton Walker Thompson
Eileen Agnes Callingham

Watson Walker Thompson
Eileen Agnes Callingham
💍 1919/2484

Divorced Decree Absolute 24/11/1917
Spinster

Railway Employee

33
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Wellington

1815

26 April 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	327
Date of Notice	26 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walton Walker Thompson	Eileen Agnes Callingham
BDM Match (95%)	Watson Walker Thompson	Eileen Agnes Callingham
	💍 1919/2484
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 24/11/1917	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	1815
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

328

26 April 1919

William Joseph Bellingham
Dorothea Kathleen Montague

William Joseph Bellingham
Dorothie Kathleen Montague
💍 1919/2485

Divorced Decree Absolute 29/3/1919
Spinster

Musician

35
23

Christchurch
Wellington

18 months
3 days

St John's Church Willis Street Wellington

1816

26 April 1919

Rev. J. Gibb

No	328
Date of Notice	26 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Bellingham	Dorothea Kathleen Montague
BDM Match (96%)	William Joseph Bellingham	Dorothie Kathleen Montague
	💍 1919/2485
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 29/3/1919	Spinster
Profession	Musician
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St John's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	1816
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

329

26 April 1919

Andrew Snodgrass
Bertha Peacock

Andrew Snodgrass
Bertha Peacock
💍 1919/2486

Widower 13/2/1919
Spinster

Carriage Painter

65
40

Korokoro Petone
Korokoro Petone

26 years
6 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

1817

26 April 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	329
Date of Notice	26 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Snodgrass	Bertha Peacock
	💍 1919/2486
Condition	Widower 13/2/1919	Spinster
Profession	Carriage Painter
Age	65	40
Dwelling Place	Korokoro Petone	Korokoro Petone
Length of Residence	26 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	1817
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

330

28 April 1919

David Grant Shand
Vera Purdue

David Grant Shand
Vera Purdue
💍 1919/2487

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter

33
19

Petone
Kaiwarra

1 year
19 years

St Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington

1818

William John Purdue Father

28 April 1919

Rev. H. J. Wilson

No	330
Date of Notice	28 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Grant Shand	Vera Purdue
	💍 1919/2487
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Kaiwarra
Length of Residence	1 year	19 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington
Folio	1818
Consent	William John Purdue Father
Date of Certificate	28 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Wilson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).