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 1963

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

1096

27 November 1919

Harold Pierard
Violet Elizabeth Davis

Harold Pierard
Violet Elizabeth Davis
💍 1919/8318

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

31
28

Karori
Petone

8 years
28 years

St Augustine's Church Petone

7970

27 November 1919

Rev A. H. Hansell Anglican

No	1096
Date of Notice	27 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Pierard	Violet Elizabeth Davis
	💍 1919/8318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Karori	Petone
Length of Residence	8 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Petone
Folio	7970
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. H. Hansell Anglican

1097

27 November 1919

Duncan McEwen
Ethel Constance Stretch

Duncan McEwen
Ethel Constance Stretch
💍 1919/8319

Widower
Spinster

Waterside Worker

47
37

Northland
Northland

12 months
12 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

7971

27 November 1919

Registrar

No	1097
Date of Notice	27 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan McEwen	Ethel Constance Stretch
	💍 1919/8319
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Waterside Worker
Age	47	37
Dwelling Place	Northland	Northland
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7971
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

1098

27 November 1919

Cedric James Hackworth
Fay Eglantine Hayward

Cedric James Hackworth
Fay Eglantine Rayward
💍 1919/8320

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Marine Officer
Music Teacher

27
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 years

St Albans Church Eastbourne Wellington

7972

27 November 1919

Rev O. M. Stent Anglican

No	1098
Date of Notice	27 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cedric James Hackworth	Fay Eglantine Hayward
BDM Match (98%)	Cedric James Hackworth	Fay Eglantine Rayward
	💍 1919/8320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Marine Officer	Music Teacher
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Albans Church Eastbourne Wellington
Folio	7972
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev O. M. Stent Anglican

1099

27 November 1919

John Hamilton Clout
Doris Kathleen Mitchell

John Hamilton Clout
Doris Kathleen Mitchell
💍 1919/9715

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

24
18

Lyall Bay
Newtown

5 months
8 years

Residence of Brides Parent 129 Constable Street Wellington

9509

William James Mitchell Father

27 November 1919

Rev H Begg Presbyterian

No	1099
Date of Notice	27 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton Clout	Doris Kathleen Mitchell
	💍 1919/9715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Lyall Bay	Newtown
Length of Residence	5 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides Parent 129 Constable Street Wellington
Folio	9509
Consent	William James Mitchell Father
Date of Certificate	27 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H Begg Presbyterian

1100

27 November 1919

Edward Bourke
Mary Alphonsus Coad

Edward Bourke
Mary Alphonsus Coad
💍 1919/8321

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter

39
33

Wellington
Johnsonville

9 months
12 years

Roman Catholic Church Johnsonville

7973

27 November 1919

Very Rev J. J. Lane Roman Catholic

No	1100
Date of Notice	27 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bourke	Mary Alphonsus Coad
	💍 1919/8321
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	9 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Johnsonville
Folio	7973
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Very Rev J. J. Lane 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).