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 1853

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. P. Roullon

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

561

14 July 1919

John Philip Bevan
Lillian Thyra Gibson

John Philip Bevan
Lillian Thyra Gibson
💍 1919/4271

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 12/7/1919

Blacksmith

54
32

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

4704

14 July 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	561
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Philip Bevan	Lillian Thyra Gibson
	💍 1919/4271
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 12/7/1919
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	54	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4704
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

562

14 July 1919

Charles Lewis Curtis
Annie Louisa Smith

Charles Lewis Curtis
Annie Louisa Smith
💍 1919/5337

Bachelor
Spinster

Carriage Builder

25
25

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

3 days
17 years

The Gospel Hall Lower Hutt

4634

14 July 1919

Mr W. Rowe

No	562
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Lewis Curtis	Annie Louisa Smith
	💍 1919/5337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carriage Builder
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	3 days	17 years
Marriage Place	The Gospel Hall Lower Hutt
Folio	4634
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr W. Rowe

563

14 July 1919

Henry Andrew Hooker
Minnie Banks

Henry Andrew Hooker
Minnie Banks
💍 1919/7028

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
15 days

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Wellington

6539

William Banks Father

14 July 1919

Rev. S. R. Orr

No	563
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Andrew Hooker	Minnie Banks
	💍 1919/7028
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	15 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	6539
Consent	William Banks Father
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. R. Orr

564

14 July 1919

Gilbert Henry Edward Hocking
Mary Gladys Dittmer

Gilbert Henry Edward Hocking
Mary Gladys Dittmer
💍 1919/4265

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
5 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

4721

29 July 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	564
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Henry Edward Hocking	Mary Gladys Dittmer
	💍 1919/4265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4721
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

565

14 July 1919

William Gordon Brown
Annie Harris Hodgetts

William Gordon Brown
Annie Harris Hodgetts
💍 1919/5338

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 30/5/1919

Bushman

39
40

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
40 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Wellington

4645

14 July 1919

Rev. S. R. Orr

No	565
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gordon Brown	Annie Harris Hodgetts
	💍 1919/5338
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 30/5/1919
Profession	Bushman
Age	39	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	40 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	4645
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 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).