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 1817

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

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

386

13 May 1919

Arthur Reese
Norma Margaret McMillan

Arthur Leese
Norma Margaret McMillan
💍 1919/2065

Bachelor
Spinster

Town Clerk

30
24

Wellington
Wellington South

3 days
2 months

St. James Church, Wellington South

1870

13 May 1919

Rev. W. Shirer

No	386
Date of Notice	13 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Reese	Norma Margaret McMillan
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Leese	Norma Margaret McMillan
	💍 1919/2065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Town Clerk
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington South
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Wellington South
Folio	1870
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

387

14 May 1919

James Baxter
Lottie Bader

James Baxter
Lottie Bader
💍 1919/2066

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
25

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, WELLINGTON

1871

14 May 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	387
Date of Notice	14 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Baxter	Lottie Bader
	💍 1919/2066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, WELLINGTON
Folio	1871
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

388

15 May 1919

Arthur John Edwin Davis
Gwendoline Minnie Von Tunzelmann Savon

Arthur John Edwin Davis
Gwendoline Minnie Von Tunzelmann Saxon
💍 1919/2067

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
30

Eastbourne, WELLINGTON
Eastbourne, WELLINGTON

3 days
4 days

St Alban's Church, Eastbourne, WELLINGTON

1872

15 May 1919

Rev. O. M. Stent

No	388
Date of Notice	15 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Edwin Davis	Gwendoline Minnie Von Tunzelmann Savon
BDM Match (99%)	Arthur John Edwin Davis	Gwendoline Minnie Von Tunzelmann Saxon
	💍 1919/2067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Eastbourne, WELLINGTON	Eastbourne, WELLINGTON
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St Alban's Church, Eastbourne, WELLINGTON
Folio	1872
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. M. Stent

389

16 May 1919

Martin Eggleton
Matilda Eliza Taylor

Martin Eggleton
Matilda Eliza Taylor
💍 1919/2068

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

45
45

Roseneath, WELLINGTON
Roseneath, WELLINGTON

2 months
12 years

St Barnabas Church, Roseneath, Wellington

1873

16 May 1919

Rev. R. Franklin

No	389
Date of Notice	16 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Eggleton	Matilda Eliza Taylor
	💍 1919/2068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	45	45
Dwelling Place	Roseneath, WELLINGTON	Roseneath, WELLINGTON
Length of Residence	2 months	12 years
Marriage Place	St Barnabas Church, Roseneath, Wellington
Folio	1873
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Franklin

390

16 May 1919

James Charles Eggleton
Eva Turnbull

James Charles Eggleton
Eva Turnbull
💍 1919/2069

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookbinder

46
44

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
9 years

St Peters Church, Willis St, Wellington

1874

16 May 1919

Rev. W. Hancock

No	390
Date of Notice	16 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Charles Eggleton	Eva Turnbull
	💍 1919/2069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookbinder
Age	46	44
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Willis St, Wellington
Folio	1874
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Hancock

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).