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 1907

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. C. O'Connor

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

830

29 September 1919

Charles Humphreys
Bridges Burke

Charles Humphreys
Bridget Burke
💍 1919/7079

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

40
33

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
4 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott St., Wellington

6566

29 September 1919

Rev. S. Mahony

No	830
Date of Notice	29 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Humphreys	Bridges Burke
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Humphreys	Bridget Burke
	💍 1919/7079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	40	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott St., Wellington
Folio	6566
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Mahony

831

30 September 1919

James Henry Bray
Mary Josephine Dunn

James Henry Bray
Mary Josephine Dunn
💍 1919/4305

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

26
22

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
2 years

St. James' Manse, Wellington South

4888

30 September 1919

Rev. W. Shirer

No	831
Date of Notice	30 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Bray	Mary Josephine Dunn
	💍 1919/4305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Manse, Wellington South
Folio	4888
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

832

1 September 1919

Herbert Stuart Cook
Edith Lilian Midgley

Herbert Stuart Cook
Edith Lilian Midgley
💍 1919/5150

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

28
22

Wellington
Christchurch

3 months
13 years

St. John's Church, Christchurch

4401

1 September 1919

Rev. P. H. Cocks

No	832
Date of Notice	1 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Stuart Cook	Edith Lilian Midgley
	💍 1919/5150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	13 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Christchurch
Folio	4401
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. H. Cocks

833

2 September 1919

Patrick Augustine O'Neill
Elsie Gertrude O'Connell

Patrick Augustine O'Neill
Elsie Gertrude O'Connell
💍 1919/4306

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
8 months

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

4889

20 September 1919

Rev. Archbishop T. O'Shea

No	833
Date of Notice	2 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Augustine O'Neill	Elsie Gertrude O'Connell
	💍 1919/4306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	8 months
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	4889
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archbishop T. O'Shea

834

3 September 1919

Henry Gibson Wray
May Smith

Henry Gibson McKay
May Smith
💍 1919/4307

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

37
31

Petone
Petone

1 year
3 days

St. Augustines Church, Petone

4890

20 September 1919

Rev. H. G. Stealey

No	834
Date of Notice	3 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gibson Wray	May Smith
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Gibson McKay	May Smith
	💍 1919/4307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	37	31
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	1 year	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church, Petone
Folio	4890
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Stealey

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).