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 1979

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

1176

12 December 1919

James Reginald Cairns
Irene Maude Blisty

James Reginald Carins
Irene Maude Clisby
💍 1919/8387

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
23

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
Life

St Anne's Church Newtown

8040

12 December 1919

Rev. M. Devoy, Roman Catholic

No	1176
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Reginald Cairns	Irene Maude Blisty
BDM Match (90%)	James Reginald Carins	Irene Maude Clisby
	💍 1919/8387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Anne's Church Newtown
Folio	8040
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Devoy, Roman Catholic

1177

12 December 1919

William Henry James
Mary Kirkhops Loang

William Henry James
Mary Kirkhape Lang
💍 1919/8388

Widower 29/7/1903
Spinster

Master Baker

48
48

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
20 years

Residence of Mr J. C. Brown 17 Helen Street Brooklyn

8041

12 December 1919

Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	1177
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry James	Mary Kirkhops Loang
BDM Match (92%)	William Henry James	Mary Kirkhape Lang
	💍 1919/8388
Condition	Widower 29/7/1903	Spinster
Profession	Master Baker
Age	48	48
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. C. Brown 17 Helen Street Brooklyn
Folio	8041
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

1178

12 December 1919

William Alfred Perry
Dorothy Marguerite Patricia Campbell

William Alfred Perry
Dorothy Marguerite Patricia Campbell
💍 1919/9719

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer

20
18

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
4 months

St Mary of the Angels Church Boulcott Street Wellington

9513

Arthur Perry, Father; Colin Campbell, Father

12 December 1919

Rev. S. Mahony, Roman Catholic

No	1178
Date of Notice	12 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Perry	Dorothy Marguerite Patricia Campbell
	💍 1919/9719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church Boulcott Street Wellington
Folio	9513
Consent	Arthur Perry, Father; Colin Campbell, Father
Date of Certificate	12 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Mahony, Roman Catholic

1179

13 December 1919

Clement John Broughton Beauchamp
Olive Murial Baverhill

Clement John Broughton Beauchamp
Olive Muriel Caverhill
💍 1919/8389

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
26

Days Bay
Days Bay

3 days
10 years

St John's Church Trentham

8042

13 December 1919

Rev. N. S. Barnett, Anglican

No	1179
Date of Notice	13 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clement John Broughton Beauchamp	Olive Murial Baverhill
BDM Match (95%)	Clement John Broughton Beauchamp	Olive Muriel Caverhill
	💍 1919/8389
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Days Bay	Days Bay
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church Trentham
Folio	8042
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. S. Barnett, Anglican

1180

13 December 1919

Gilbert James Alston McGaul
Amelia Annie Makeig

Gilbert James Alston McCaul
Amelia Annie Makeig
💍 1919/8391

Bachelor
Widow 7/7/1917

Clerk

28
34

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
2 years

St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington

8043

13 December 1919

Rev. J. F. O'Connor, Roman Catholic

No	1180
Date of Notice	13 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert James Alston McGaul	Amelia Annie Makeig
BDM Match (98%)	Gilbert James Alston McCaul	Amelia Annie Makeig
	💍 1919/8391
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 7/7/1917
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	8043
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. O'Connor, Roman Catholic

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).