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 1935

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. E. Binns

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

956

24 October 1919

Robert Campbell Raikes
Vera Nairn

Robert Campbell Raikes
Vera Nairn
💍 1919/9249

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant's Clerk

26
26

Wellington
Blenheim

7 months
Life

Registrar's Office, Blenheim

8983

24 October 1919

Registrar, Blenheim

No	956
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Campbell Raikes	Vera Nairn
	💍 1919/9249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant's Clerk
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Blenheim
Length of Residence	7 months	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Blenheim
Folio	8983
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Blenheim

957

24 October 1919

Charles Edward Wakefield
Frances Euphemia Burns

Charles Edward Wakefield
Frances Euphemia Burns
💍 1919/8183

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter

21
19

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
19 years

Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington

7836

Henry Stephen Burns, Father

24 October 1919

Rev. G. Knowles Smith, Methodist

No	957
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Wakefield	Frances Euphemia Burns
	💍 1919/8183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	7836
Consent	Henry Stephen Burns, Father
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Knowles Smith, Methodist

958

24 October 1919

Michael Joseph Shinkwin
Mary Elizabeth Ann Billinghurst

Michael Joseph Shinkwin
Mary Elizabeth Ann Billinghurst
💍 1919/8184

Bachelor
Widow 7/11/1902

Railway Foreman

48
41

Wellington
Wellington

8 months
1 month

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

7837

24 October 1919

Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

No	958
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Joseph Shinkwin	Mary Elizabeth Ann Billinghurst
	💍 1919/8184
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 7/11/1902
Profession	Railway Foreman
Age	48	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	1 month
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	7837
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

959

24 October 1919

Alfred Edward Shepherd
Elizabeth Victoria Rodger Thorpe

Alfred Edward Shepherd
Elizabeth Victoria Rodger Thorpe
💍 1919/8185

Bachelor
Widow 19/11/1918

Farmer

43
31

Wellington
Lower Hutt

10 days
1 month

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7838

24 October 1919

Registrar

No	959
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Shepherd	Elizabeth Victoria Rodger Thorpe
	💍 1919/8185
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 19/11/1918
Profession	Farmer
Age	43	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	10 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7838
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

960

24 October 1919

Robert Witheford
Florence Clara Pointon

Robert Witheford
Florence Clara Pointon
💍 1919/8186

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

42
34

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
6 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

7839

24 October 1919

Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	960
Date of Notice	24 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Witheford	Florence Clara Pointon
	💍 1919/8186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	42	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	7839
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).