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 1950

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar P. A. 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

1031

13 November 1919

William Noel Pharazyn
Lydia Helen Hughes Field

William Noel Pharazyn
Lydia Helen Hughes Field
💍 1919/8279

Bachelor
Spinster

Captain Royal Field Artillery

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 Months
23 Years

St Pauls Pro-Cathedral Wellington

7908

13 November 1919

Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	1031
Date of Notice	13 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Noel Pharazyn	Lydia Helen Hughes Field
	💍 1919/8279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Captain Royal Field Artillery
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Months	23 Years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Pro-Cathedral Wellington
Folio	7908
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

1032

13 November 1919

Arthur Alexander
Violet Gamble

Arthur Alexander
Violet Gamble
💍 1919/8256

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer

31
26

Wellington
Wellington

31 Years
14 years

Church of England Kilbirnie Wellington

7909

13 November 1919

Rev. J. H. Sykes, Anglican

No	1032
Date of Notice	13 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Alexander	Violet Gamble
	💍 1919/8256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	31 Years	14 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Kilbirnie Wellington
Folio	7909
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sykes, Anglican

1033

13 November 1919

Francis Martin Wells
Beatrice Evelena Macer Doherty

Francis Martin Wells
Beatrice Evelena Macer Doherty
💍 1919/8257

Widower 6 October 1914
Widow 26 August 1918

Labourer

46
37

Wellington
Lower Hutt

5 Years
3 Years

Roman Catholic Church Lower Hutt

7910

13 November 1919

Rev. J. J. Lane, Roman Catholic

No	1033
Date of Notice	13 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Martin Wells	Beatrice Evelena Macer Doherty
	💍 1919/8257
Condition	Widower 6 October 1914	Widow 26 August 1918
Profession	Labourer
Age	46	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	5 Years	3 Years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Lower Hutt
Folio	7910
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane, Roman Catholic

1034

13 November 1919

Walter Phillip Hartnell
Eleanor Emily Jenner

Walter Philip Hartnell
Eleanor Emily Jenner
💍 1919/8258

Bachelor
Spinster

Sign-Writer

24
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 Years
2 Years

St Thomas' Church Newtown Wellington

7911

13 November 1919

Rev. S. Fancourt, Anglican

No	1034
Date of Notice	13 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Phillip Hartnell	Eleanor Emily Jenner
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Philip Hartnell	Eleanor Emily Jenner
	💍 1919/8258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sign-Writer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 Years	2 Years
Marriage Place	St Thomas' Church Newtown Wellington
Folio	7911
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Fancourt, Anglican

1035

13 November 1919

Nathan Hall
Nellie Slough

Nathan Hall
Nellie Clough
💍 1919/8259

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman New Zealand Railways

22
18

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

7 days
10 years

Residence of Mr Leonard Slough Martin Street Upper Hutt

7912

Leonard Slough (Father)

13 November 1919

Mr. A. M. Climie, Presbyterian

No	1035
Date of Notice	13 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathan Hall	Nellie Slough
BDM Match (96%)	Nathan Hall	Nellie Clough
	💍 1919/8259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman New Zealand Railways
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	7 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Leonard Slough Martin Street Upper Hutt
Folio	7912
Consent	Leonard Slough (Father)
Date of Certificate	13 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Mr. A. M. Climie, Presbyterian

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).