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 1885

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar W. W. Samson

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

720

22 August 1919

Alfred Colin Burgess
Hannah Elizabeth Neal

Alfred Colin Burgess
Hannah Elizabeth Neal
💍 1919/7038

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
32

Taita
Taita

3 years
1 year 3 months

Methodist Church Taita

4518

22 August 1919

Rev. D. J. Murray, Methodist

No	720
Date of Notice	22 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Colin Burgess	Hannah Elizabeth Neal
	💍 1919/7038
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	32
Dwelling Place	Taita	Taita
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year 3 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Taita
Folio	4518
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Murray, Methodist

722

23 August 1919

Albert Walker
Edith Doris Ambridge

Albert Walker
Edith Doris Ambridge
💍 1919/5508

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
23 years

St. Marks Church Wellington

4791

23 August 1919

Rev. C. F. B. Page, Anglican

No	722
Date of Notice	23 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Walker	Edith Doris Ambridge
	💍 1919/5508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church Wellington
Folio	4791
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. B. Page, Anglican

723

23 August 1919

George Brock Aaron Forgeson
Ethel May Garlick

George Brock Aaron Forgeson
Ethel May Garlick
💍 1919/5509

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

34
19

Wellington
Wellington

17 months
1 year

St. Peters Church Willis St Wellington

4792

Thomas Garlick Father

23 August 1919

Rev. T. F. Taylor, Anglican

No	723
Date of Notice	23 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brock Aaron Forgeson	Ethel May Garlick
	💍 1919/5509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 months	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church Willis St Wellington
Folio	4792
Consent	Thomas Garlick Father
Date of Certificate	23 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. F. Taylor, Anglican

724

25 August 1919

James Carmichael Turner
Florence Forstina Pardoe

James Carmitchall Turner
Florence Fostina Parkin
💍 1919/5510

Bachelor
Spinster

Telephone Exchange Clerk

28
22

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
20 years

Baptist Church Vivian St Wellington

4793

25 August 1919

Rev. S. Beckingham, Baptist

No	724
Date of Notice	25 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Carmichael Turner	Florence Forstina Pardoe
BDM Match (88%)	James Carmitchall Turner	Florence Fostina Parkin
	💍 1919/5510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telephone Exchange Clerk
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Vivian St Wellington
Folio	4793
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Beckingham, Baptist

725

25 August 1919

George William Manifold
Gladys Isabel Henderson

George William Manifold
Gladys Isabel Henderson
💍 1919/5512

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 years Kelburne

Presbyterian Manse Raroa Rd Kelburn

4794

25 August 1919

Rev. W. Day, Presbyterian

No	725
Date of Notice	25 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Manifold	Gladys Isabel Henderson
	💍 1919/5512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years Kelburne
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Raroa Rd Kelburn
Folio	4794
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Day, Presbyterian

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).