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 1981

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

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

1186

15 December 1919

Neil Alexander Joseph Boyd
Dorothy Gladys Rachel Hardy

Neil Alexander Joseph Boyd
Dorothy Gladys Rachel Hardy
💍 1919/8404

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
22 years

St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington

8049

15 December 1919

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	1186
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Alexander Joseph Boyd	Dorothy Gladys Rachel Hardy
	💍 1919/8404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	8049
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

1187

15 December 1919

George Robert Walker Commonly known as Reeves
Hannah Matilda Thomson Smith

George Robert Reeves
Hannah Matilda Thomson Smith
💍 1919/8415

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

40
27

Petone
Petone

3 days
9 years

St Augustine's Church Petone

8050

15 December 1919

Rev. H. A. Walke, Anglican

No	1187
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robert Walker Commonly known as Reeves	Hannah Matilda Thomson Smith
BDM Match (72%)	George Robert Reeves	Hannah Matilda Thomson Smith
	💍 1919/8415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	40	27
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Petone
Folio	8050
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Walke, Anglican

1188

15 December 1919

Gustave Philip Wolfram
Jessie Niven Adams

Gustave Philip Wolfrom
Jessie Niven Adams
💍 1919/8422

Widower 6/9/1917
Divorcee Decree absolute 9/10/1919

Travelling Salesman

38
38

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 years

Presbyterian Manse 35 Vivien Street Wellington

8051

15 December 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	1188
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustave Philip Wolfram	Jessie Niven Adams
BDM Match (98%)	Gustave Philip Wolfrom	Jessie Niven Adams
	💍 1919/8422
Condition	Widower 6/9/1917	Divorcee Decree absolute 9/10/1919
Profession	Travelling Salesman
Age	38	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse 35 Vivien Street Wellington
Folio	8051
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

1189

15 December 1919

Frederick Warner
Ivy Muriel Bullen

Frederick Warner
Ivy Muriel Cullen
💍 1919/8423

Bachelor
Divorcee Decree absolute 12/9/1918

Waterside Worker

34
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
8 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

8052

15 December 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	1189
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Warner	Ivy Muriel Bullen
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Warner	Ivy Muriel Cullen
	💍 1919/8423
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee Decree absolute 12/9/1918
Profession	Waterside Worker
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	8052
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

1190

15 December 1919

George Grey Riddiford
Lynette Estemere Gleadifen Hickey

George Grey Riddiford
Lynettie Estemere Headifen Hickey
💍 1919/8424

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
21

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
20 years

St Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington

8053

15 December 1919

Rev. T. F. Taylor, Anglican

No	1190
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Grey Riddiford	Lynette Estemere Gleadifen Hickey
BDM Match (95%)	George Grey Riddiford	Lynettie Estemere Headifen Hickey
	💍 1919/8424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	8053
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. F. Taylor, 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).