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 1918

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar R. C. E. Hands

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

871

1 October 1919

Frederick George Wakeling
Edith Isabella Whitaker

Frederick George Wakeling
Edith Isabella Whitaker
💍 1919/8153

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

30
25

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

7756

1 October 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	871
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Wakeling	Edith Isabella Whitaker
	💍 1919/8153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7756
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

872

1 October 1919

Gilbert Jefferson Sparrow
Bessie Kathleen Forster

Gilbert Jefferson Sparrow
Bessie Kathleen Forster
💍 1919/8154

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

28
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
24 years

Congregational Manse 142 The Terrace Wellington

7757

1 October 1919

Rev. J. Reed Glasson, Congregational

No	872
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Jefferson Sparrow	Bessie Kathleen Forster
	💍 1919/8154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Manse 142 The Terrace Wellington
Folio	7757
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Reed Glasson, Congregational

873

1 October 1919

Horace Inchcliff Chappell
Margaret Catherine Okeby

Horace Mehcliff Chappell
Margaret Catherine Okeby
💍 1919/8155

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter

32
30

Petone
Petone

6 years
8 years

Roman Catholic Church Lower Hutt

7758

1 October 1919

Rev. J. J. Lane, Roman Catholic

No	873
Date of Notice	1 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Inchcliff Chappell	Margaret Catherine Okeby
BDM Match (94%)	Horace Mehcliff Chappell	Margaret Catherine Okeby
	💍 1919/8155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Lower Hutt
Folio	7758
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane, Roman Catholic

874

2 October 1919

William Christopher Barry
Ellen Telfer

William Christopher Barry
Ellen Telfer
💍 1919/8133

Bachelor
Spinster

Veterinary Surgeon

34
30

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 weeks

The Basilica Hill Street Wellington

7759

2 October 1919

Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

No	874
Date of Notice	2 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Christopher Barry	Ellen Telfer
	💍 1919/8133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Veterinary Surgeon
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	The Basilica Hill Street Wellington
Folio	7759
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

875

2 October 1919

James Mackie
Martha Dysart

James Mackie
Martha Dysart
💍 1919/8134

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet-maker

30
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
1 year

Methodist Church Island Bay Wellington

7760

2 October 1919

Rev. J. T. Pinfold, Methodist

No	875
Date of Notice	2 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mackie	Martha Dysart
	💍 1919/8134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet-maker
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Island Bay Wellington
Folio	7760
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Pinfold, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).