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 1992

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

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

1241

23 December 1919

William Herbert Rowland
Blanche Mary Williams

William Herbert Rowland
Blanche Mary Williams
💍 1920/2795

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet-maker

31
34

Brooklyn
Brooklyn

12 years
6 years

St Matthews Church Brooklyn Wellington

51/1920

23 December 1919

Rev. G.W. Dent (Church of England)

No	1241
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Rowland	Blanche Mary Williams
	💍 1920/2795
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet-maker
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Brooklyn Wellington
Folio	51/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G.W. Dent (Church of England)

1242

23 December 1919

Francis Thomas Skinnon
Mabel Annie Webb

Francis Thomas Skinnon
Mabel Annie Webb
💍 1920/2581

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Board Employee

34
31

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Church Lower Hutt

43/1920

23 December 1919

Very Rev. J. J. Lane (Roman Catholic)

No	1242
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Thomas Skinnon	Mabel Annie Webb
	💍 1920/2581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Board Employee
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Lower Hutt
Folio	43/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. J. Lane (Roman Catholic)

1243

23 December 1919

Edwin Francis Wilton
Grace Eleanor Henderson

Edwin Francis Wilton
Grace Eleanor Henderson
💍 1919/8445

Bachelor
Spinster

Turner

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
22 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

8097

23 December 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	1243
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Francis Wilton	Grace Eleanor Henderson
	💍 1919/8445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Turner
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	8097
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

1244

23 December 1919

Archibald Ernest Hunt
Leonora Beatrice Ruth Fleming

Archibald Ernest Hunt
Leonora Beatrice Ruth Fleming
💍 1920/2806

Widower 31.12.1916
Spinster

Minister of Religion

58
39

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
20 years

Congregational Church Cambridge Terrace Wellington

52/1920

23 December 1919

Rev. W. Day (Congregational)

No	1244
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Ernest Hunt	Leonora Beatrice Ruth Fleming
	💍 1920/2806
Condition	Widower 31.12.1916	Spinster
Profession	Minister of Religion
Age	58	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Cambridge Terrace Wellington
Folio	52/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Day (Congregational)

1245

23 December 1919

Marcus Christian Hansen
Ethel Vera Halfyard

Marcus Christian Hansen
Ethel Vera Halfyard
💍 1919/9069

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

32
27

Lower Hutt
Masterton

3 years
3 years

St Matthews Church Masterton

8782

23 December 1919

Rev. J. Walker (Church of England)

No	1245
Date of Notice	23 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Marcus Christian Hansen	Ethel Vera Halfyard
	💍 1919/9069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Masterton
Folio	8782
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walker (Church of England)

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).