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 1957

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar W. W. Samson

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

1066

21 November 1919

Arthur Frederick Fitchett
Constance Elvira Lundberg

Arthur Frederick Fitchett
Constance Elvira Lindberg
💍 1919/8290

Bachelor
Spinster

Manufacturer's Agent

30
28

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
8 years

Residence of Brides Parents, 114 Hataitai Road, Wellington

7943

21 November 1919

Rev J. H. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	1066
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Frederick Fitchett	Constance Elvira Lundberg
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Frederick Fitchett	Constance Elvira Lindberg
	💍 1919/8290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturer's Agent
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides Parents, 114 Hataitai Road, Wellington
Folio	7943
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Elliott, Presbyterian

1067

21 November 1919

Daniel Henry Godfrey
Florence Mabel Waugh

Daniel Henry Godfrey
Florence Mabel Waugh
💍 1919/8292

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Manager

38
26

Wellington
Wellington

10 months
26 years

All Saints Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington

7944

21 November 1919

Rev J. H. Sykes, Anglican

No	1067
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Henry Godfrey	Florence Mabel Waugh
	💍 1919/8292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Manager
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 months	26 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Kilbirnie, Wellington
Folio	7944
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Sykes, Anglican

1068

21 November 1919

Arthur Owen Hilder
Elsie Lorena Short

Arthur Owen Hilder
Elsie Lorena Short
💍 1919/8293

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
20

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
Life

St James' Manse, Wellington South

7945

Alice Short, Mother

21 November 1919

Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	1068
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Owen Hilder	Elsie Lorena Short
	💍 1919/8293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St James' Manse, Wellington South
Folio	7945
Consent	Alice Short, Mother
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

1069

22 November 1919

Horace Basil Rush
Helen Margaret Watson

Horace Basil Rush
Helen Margaret Watson
💍 1919/8294

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

7946

Andrew Watson, Father

22 November 1919

Rev H. Watson, Anglican

No	1069
Date of Notice	22 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Basil Rush	Helen Margaret Watson
	💍 1919/8294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	7946
Consent	Andrew Watson, Father
Date of Certificate	22 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. Watson, Anglican

1070

22 November 1919

Martin Volkner
Minnie Florence Alma Brown

Martin Volkner
Minnie Florence Alma Brown
💍 1919/8295

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith

23
19

Wellington
Ngahauranga

1 week
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Newtown, Wellington

7947

Charles Edward Brown, Father

22 November 1919

Rev M. Devoy, Roman Catholic

No	1070
Date of Notice	22 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Volkner	Minnie Florence Alma Brown
	💍 1919/8295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Ngahauranga
Length of Residence	1 week	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	7947
Consent	Charles Edward Brown, Father
Date of Certificate	22 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev M. Devoy, Roman Catholic

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).