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 1949

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. 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

1026

12 November 1919

Harry Boston Cassels
Barbara Khamis Kochfort

Harry Boston Cassels
Barbara Khamis Rochfort
💍 1919/8274

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

23
18

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
12 years

St Peters Church Willis Street Wellington

7903

Florence Adam Kochfort (mother)

12 November 1919

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	1026
Date of Notice	12 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Boston Cassels	Barbara Khamis Kochfort
BDM Match (98%)	Harry Boston Cassels	Barbara Khamis Rochfort
	💍 1919/8274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	7903
Consent	Florence Adam Kochfort (mother)
Date of Certificate	12 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

1027

12 November 1919

Francis Robertson Webster
Martha Lilian Mary Richards

Francis Robertson Webster
Martha Lilian Mary Richards
💍 1919/8275

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
22 years

Wesley Church Taranaki Street Wellington

7904

12 November 1919

Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

No	1027
Date of Notice	12 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Robertson Webster	Martha Lilian Mary Richards
	💍 1919/8275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church Taranaki Street Wellington
Folio	7904
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

1028

12 November 1919

Frederick William Lane
Georgina Mead

Frederick William Lane
Geordina Mead
💍 1919/8276

Divorcee Decree absolute 24/10/1919
Divorcee Decree absolute 20/3/1917

Hair-dresser

38
38

Koro Koro
Petone

12 Months
8 Months

Registrar's Office Wellington

7905

12 November 1919

Registrar

No	1028
Date of Notice	12 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Lane	Georgina Mead
BDM Match (96%)	Frederick William Lane	Geordina Mead
	💍 1919/8276
Condition	Divorcee Decree absolute 24/10/1919	Divorcee Decree absolute 20/3/1917
Profession	Hair-dresser
Age	38	38
Dwelling Place	Koro Koro	Petone
Length of Residence	12 Months	8 Months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7905
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1029

12 November 1919

Rau Narata
Herani Rene

Rau Parata
Herani Pene
💍 1919/8277

Widower 1913
Widow 17/11/1913

Labourer

34
45

Porirua
Porirua

3 Months
Life

Registrar's Office Wellington

7906

12 November 1919

Registrar

No	1029
Date of Notice	12 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rau Narata	Herani Rene
BDM Match (90%)	Rau Parata	Herani Pene
	💍 1919/8277
Condition	Widower 1913	Widow 17/11/1913
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	45
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Porirua
Length of Residence	3 Months	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7906
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1030

13 November 1919

William Alfred Henry Scott
Mary Josephine Benson

William Alfred Henry Scott
Mary Josephine Benson
💍 1919/8278

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

29
24

Wellington South
Wellington South

22 years
24 years

St Thomas' Church Wellington South

7907

13 November 1919

Rev. W. Fancourt, Anglican

No	1030
Date of Notice	13 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Henry Scott	Mary Josephine Benson
	💍 1919/8278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington South	Wellington South
Length of Residence	22 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Thomas' Church Wellington South
Folio	7907
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt, 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).