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 1929

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. P. 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

926

16 October 1919

Jonathan Bugg
Kathleen Bowden

Jonathan Bugg
Kathleen Bowden
💍 1919/8179

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

43
35

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
8 years 17/6/1917

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

7808

16 October 1919

Rev D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	926
Date of Notice	16 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Bugg	Kathleen Bowden
	💍 1919/8179
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	43	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	8 years 17/6/1917
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	7808
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

927

16 October 1919

Francis Walter Seymour
Lily Evelyn Green

Francis Walter Seymour
Lily Evelyn Green
💍 1919/8180

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

38
34

Wellington
Wellington

8 months
13 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7809

16 October 1919

Registrar

No	927
Date of Notice	16 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Walter Seymour	Lily Evelyn Green
	💍 1919/8180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	38	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7809
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

928

17 October 1919

William John Bowden
Millicent Gilbert

William John Bowden
Millicent Gilbert
💍 1919/8157

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey

23
21

Kaiwarra
Wellington

3 days
2 months

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

7810

17 October 1919

Rev P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

No	928
Date of Notice	17 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Bowden	Millicent Gilbert
	💍 1919/8157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Kaiwarra	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	7810
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

929

17 October 1919

Thomas Abram Barrow
Gwendoline Frances Revans

Thomas Abram Barrow
Gwendoline Frances Revans
💍 1919/9265

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

22
26

Wellington
Koromiko, Picton

6 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Picton

8978

17 October 1919

Rev J. Richards, Presbyterian

No	929
Date of Notice	17 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Abram Barrow	Gwendoline Frances Revans
	💍 1919/9265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Koromiko, Picton
Length of Residence	6 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Picton
Folio	8978
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Richards, Presbyterian

930

18 October 1919

Charles Mansen
Mary Jane Toole

Charles Mansen
Mary Jane Toole
💍 1919/8158

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

45
43

Wellington
Wellington

3 years (15/1/1915)
3 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7811

18 October 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	930
Date of Notice	18 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Mansen	Mary Jane Toole
	💍 1919/8158
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	45	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years (15/1/1915)	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7811
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 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).