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 1900

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. C. O'Connell

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

796

11 September 1919

Charles James Hands Lansdown
Jessie Harvey

Charles James Francis Lansdown
Jessie Harvey
💍 1919/5555

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Servant

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
14 years

Residence of Mr Harvey, 28 Mansfield St, Newtown, Wellington

4839

11 September 1919

Rev. J. K. Ewen

No	796
Date of Notice	11 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles James Hands Lansdown	Jessie Harvey
BDM Match (93%)	Charles James Francis Lansdown	Jessie Harvey
	💍 1919/5555
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Servant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Harvey, 28 Mansfield St, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	4839
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Ewen

797

11 September 1919

Cuthbert Cyril Henderson
Mary Beatrice McLeod

Cuthbert Cyril Henderson
Mary Beatrice MacLeod
💍 1919/5556

Bachelor
Spinster

Glazier

37
33

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
8 months

The Catholic Presbytery, Paterson St, Wellington

4840

11 September 1911

Rev. D. H. Hurley

No	797
Date of Notice	11 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cuthbert Cyril Henderson	Mary Beatrice McLeod
BDM Match (98%)	Cuthbert Cyril Henderson	Mary Beatrice MacLeod
	💍 1919/5556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Glazier
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	8 months
Marriage Place	The Catholic Presbytery, Paterson St, Wellington
Folio	4840
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley

798

12 September 1911

Frederick Kilmister
Olive Mabel Mafeking Smith

Frederick Kilmister
Olive Mabel Mafeking Smith
💍 1919/5557

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
Life

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie St, Wellington

4841

David Smith, Father

12 September 1919

Rev. J. H. Elliott

No	798
Date of Notice	12 September 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Kilmister	Olive Mabel Mafeking Smith
	💍 1919/5557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie St, Wellington
Folio	4841
Consent	David Smith, Father
Date of Certificate	12 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Elliott

799

12 September 1919

George Cecil Talbot
Clarice Claudine Grave

George Cecil Talbot
Clarice Claudine Grave
💍 1919/7090

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep-Farmer

25
28

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
2 years

St. Marks Church, Wellington

6553

12 September 1919

Rev. A. H. B. Page

No	799
Date of Notice	12 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cecil Talbot	Clarice Claudine Grave
	💍 1919/7090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep-Farmer
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	6553
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. B. Page

800

12 September 1919

Francis Alfred Campbell
Elsie Annie Playne

Francis Alfred Campbell
Elsie Annie Playne
💍 1919/7091

Bachelor
Spinster

Music Salesman

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
23 years

St. Marks Church, Wellington

6554

12 September 1919

Rev. A. H. B. Page

No	800
Date of Notice	12 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Alfred Campbell	Elsie Annie Playne
	💍 1919/7091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Music Salesman
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	6554
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. B. Page

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).