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 1951

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

1036

14 November 1919

Robert Fullerton
Ruth Tombs

Robert Fullerton
Ruth Tombs
💍 1919/8260

Widower 31/3/1917
Spinster

Messenger
Housemaid

46
48

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
2 Months

Methodist Church Webb Street Wellington

7913

14 November 1919

Rev. G. Knowles Smith Methodist

No	1036
Date of Notice	14 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Fullerton	Ruth Tombs
	💍 1919/8260
Condition	Widower 31/3/1917	Spinster
Profession	Messenger	Housemaid
Age	46	48
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	2 Months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Webb Street Wellington
Folio	7913
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Knowles Smith Methodist

1037

14 November 1919

James Duncan
Ruby Thompson Dellwood

James Duncan
Ruby Thompson Dellwood
💍 1919/8261

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

2 Months
9 years

St Pauls Pro-cathedral Wellington

7914

14 November 1919

Rev. A. M. Johnson Anglican

No	1037
Date of Notice	14 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Duncan	Ruby Thompson Dellwood
	💍 1919/8261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 Months	9 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Pro-cathedral Wellington
Folio	7914
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson Anglican

1038

14 November 1919

Ronald William Hood
Nora Davin

Ronald William Hood
Nora Davin
💍 1919/8262

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Board Employee

28
29

Wellington
Brooklyn

12 Months
7 years

The Basilica Hill Street Wellington

7915

14 November 1919

Rev. J. C. Dignan Roman Catholic

No	1038
Date of Notice	14 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald William Hood	Nora Davin
	💍 1919/8262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Board Employee
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	12 Months	7 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica Hill Street Wellington
Folio	7915
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Dignan Roman Catholic

1039

14 November 1919

Herbert Denham
Olive Louisa Barrow

Herbert Denham
Olive Louisa Barrow
💍 1919/8263

Bachelor
Spinster

Waterside Worker

28
21

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
2 years

The Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington

7916

14 November 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

No	1039
Date of Notice	14 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Denham	Olive Louisa Barrow
	💍 1919/8263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waterside Worker
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington
Folio	7916
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott Presbyterian

1040

14 November 1919

Walter Stanley Christensen
Rita Fanny Bamwall

Walter Stanley Christensen
Reta Fanny Camwell
💍 1919/8264

Bachelor
Spinster

Body maker

27
21

Wellington
Wellington

27 years
20 years

St Mark's Church Wellington

7917

14 November 1919

Rev A. J. B. Page Anglican

No	1040
Date of Notice	14 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Stanley Christensen	Rita Fanny Bamwall
BDM Match (92%)	Walter Stanley Christensen	Reta Fanny Camwell
	💍 1919/8264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Body maker
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church Wellington
Folio	7917
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. B. Page Anglican

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).