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 1851

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. A. 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

551

10 July 1919

Thomas Albert Harlen
Irene Jane Elizabeth Gough

Thomas Albert Harlen
Irene Jane Elizabeth Gough
💍 1919/5328

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

18
21

Petone
Petone

2 years
Life

St. Augustine's Church Petone

4636

Thomas Harlen Father

10 July 1919

Rev. H. J. Stealey

No	551
Date of Notice	10 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Albert Harlen	Irene Jane Elizabeth Gough
	💍 1919/5328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	18	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Petone
Folio	4636
Consent	Thomas Harlen Father
Date of Certificate	10 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Stealey

552

11 July 1919

Leonard John Couchman
Evelyn Elberta Murray Olsen

Leonard John Couchman
Evelyn Elberta Murray Olsen
💍 1919/5329

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

27
19

Petone
Petone

Life
13 years

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

4637

Christle Frederick Olsen Father

11 July 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	552
Date of Notice	11 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard John Couchman	Evelyn Elberta Murray Olsen
	💍 1919/5329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	Life	13 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	4637
Consent	Christle Frederick Olsen Father
Date of Certificate	11 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

553

11 July 1919

William David Laurence Thompson
Mary Josephine Heffernan

William David Laurence Thompson
Mary Josephine Hefferman
💍 1919/5330

Widower 30/5/1912
Spinster

Police Constable

52
43

Eastbourne
Eastbourne

2 years
2 years

St. Patrick's College Chapel Buckle Street Wellington

4638

11 July 1919

Rev. A. Cullen

No	553
Date of Notice	11 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William David Laurence Thompson	Mary Josephine Heffernan
BDM Match (98%)	William David Laurence Thompson	Mary Josephine Hefferman
	💍 1919/5330
Condition	Widower 30/5/1912	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	52	43
Dwelling Place	Eastbourne	Eastbourne
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's College Chapel Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	4638
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Cullen

554

11 July 1919

Henry Goodhall
Emily Catherine Houchen

Henry Goodhell
Emily Catherine Honcken
💍 1919/5331

Bachelor
Spinster

Postman

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

26 years
Life

Trinity Methodist Church Wellington South

4639

11 July 1919

Rev. E. Drake

No	554
Date of Notice	11 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Goodhall	Emily Catherine Houchen
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Goodhell	Emily Catherine Honcken
	💍 1919/5331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postman
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	26 years	Life
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church Wellington South
Folio	4639
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Drake

555

11 July 1919

Richard Phillip Masked
Rose Hannah Maud Liddington

Richard Phillip Maxted
Rose Hannah Maud Liddington
💍 1919/4269

Widower 19/8/1906
Spinster

Contractor

44
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Wellington

4702

11 July 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	555
Date of Notice	11 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Phillip Masked	Rose Hannah Maud Liddington
BDM Match (95%)	Richard Phillip Maxted	Rose Hannah Maud Liddington
	💍 1919/4269
Condition	Widower 19/8/1906	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	44	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4702
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).