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 1956

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. G. Pynsent

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

1061

19 November 1919

Bernard Joseph Lander Jukes
Mary Constance Towers

Bernard Joseph Lauder Jukes
May Constance Towers
💍 1919/8285

Bachelor
Spinster

Boat-builder

30
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
1 year

St Mark's Church, Wellington

7938

19 November 1919

Rev. H. E. K. Fry, Anglican

No	1061
Date of Notice	19 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Joseph Lander Jukes	Mary Constance Towers
BDM Match (96%)	Bernard Joseph Lauder Jukes	May Constance Towers
	💍 1919/8285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boat-builder
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	7938
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. K. Fry, Anglican

1062

20 November 1919

Leonard Douglas Muir
Mildred Aroha Smith

Leonard Douglas Muir
Mildred Aroha Smith
💍 1919/8286

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
20 years

St Andrews Church, Wellington

7939

20 November 1919

Rev. Gibson Smith, Presbyterian

No	1062
Date of Notice	20 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Douglas Muir	Mildred Aroha Smith
	💍 1919/8286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Wellington
Folio	7939
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Gibson Smith, Presbyterian

1063

20 November 1919

Andrew George Grey Surrell
Pearl Sarah Ann Henman

Andrew George Grey Surrell
Pearl Sarah Ann Henman
💍 1919/8287

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
1 year

Residence of Mr. A. G. G. Surrell, 15 College Street, Wellington

7940

20 November 1919

Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	1063
Date of Notice	20 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew George Grey Surrell	Pearl Sarah Ann Henman
	💍 1919/8287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. G. G. Surrell, 15 College Street, Wellington
Folio	7940
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

1064

20 November 1919

William Hedges
Violet Alice Adams

William Hedges
Violet Alice Adams
💍 1919/8288

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
20

Wellington
Miramar

20 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. J. Mann, Broadway, Miramar, Wellington

7941

William Adams (Father)

20 November 1919

Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	1064
Date of Notice	20 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hedges	Violet Alice Adams
	💍 1919/8288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Miramar
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Mann, Broadway, Miramar, Wellington
Folio	7941
Consent	William Adams (Father)
Date of Certificate	20 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian

1065

21 November 1919

Hollis Miro Blanchard Chapple
Constance May Penn

Hollis Miro Blanchard Chapple
Constance May Penn
💍 1919/8289

Bachelor
Spinster

Florist

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
6 months

The Manse, Hiropi Street, Newtown, Wellington

7942

21 November 1919

Rev. W. A. Evans, Congregational

No	1065
Date of Notice	21 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hollis Miro Blanchard Chapple	Constance May Penn
	💍 1919/8289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Florist
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	6 months
Marriage Place	The Manse, Hiropi Street, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	7942
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Evans, Congregational

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).