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 1934

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. O. Bennett

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

951

23 October 1919

William Thomas Dean
Florence Edith Browning

William Thomas Dean
Florence Edith Browning
💍 1919/8202

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
25

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
3 years

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

7831

23 October 1919

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	951
Date of Notice	23 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Dean	Florence Edith Browning
	💍 1919/8202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	7831
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

952

23 October 1919

Harry Routh
Olive Graf

Harry Routh
Olive Graf
💍 1919/8203

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

47
37

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
5 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

7832

23 October 1919

Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	952
Date of Notice	23 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Routh	Olive Graf
	💍 1919/8203
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	47	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	7832
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson, Anglican

953

23 October 1919

John McDonald Johnston
Rebecca Lilian Dobson

John McDonald Johnston
Rebecca Lilian Dobson
💍 1919/8204

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

19
17

Wellington
Melrose

11 years
3 years

Residence of Mr. Wm. Dobson, Sutherland Crescent, Wellington

7833

John McDonald Johnston, Father; William Dobson, Father

23 October 1919

Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	953
Date of Notice	23 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McDonald Johnston	Rebecca Lilian Dobson
	💍 1919/8204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Melrose
Length of Residence	11 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Wm. Dobson, Sutherland Crescent, Wellington
Folio	7833
Consent	John McDonald Johnston, Father; William Dobson, Father
Date of Certificate	23 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

954

23 October 1919

Thomas Quance Ross
Amelia Atherton Heyworth

Thomas Quance Ross
Amelia Atherton Heyworth
💍 1919/8205

Widower 16/9/1916
Spinster

Seaman

36
33

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
2 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

7834

23 October 1919

Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

No	954
Date of Notice	23 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Quance Ross	Amelia Atherton Heyworth
	💍 1919/8205
Condition	Widower 16/9/1916	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	7834
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

955

23 October 1919

John MacLeod
Annie Elizabeth Irving

John MacLeod
Annie Elizabeth Irving
💍 1919/8182

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

32
32

Wellington
Wellington

10 months
4 years

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

7835

23 October 1919

Rev. A. T. B. Page, Anglican

No	955
Date of Notice	23 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John MacLeod	Annie Elizabeth Irving
	💍 1919/8182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	7835
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. B. Page, 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).