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 1896

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. E. Ennis

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

776

5 September 1919

Ernest Richard John Vance
Evelyn May Howden

Ernest Richard John Vance
Evelyn May Howden
💍 1919/7170

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Inspector

40
32

Seatoun
Vogeltown

2 1/2 years
Life

St Matthews Church, Brooklyn, Wellington

6638

5 September 1919

Rev G. W. Dent

No	776
Date of Notice	5 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Richard John Vance	Evelyn May Howden
	💍 1919/7170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Inspector
Age	40	32
Dwelling Place	Seatoun	Vogeltown
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	6638
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G. W. Dent

777

5 September 1919

Reginald Theodore Aldersley
Lydia Slimm

Reginald Theodore Aldersley
Lydia Slinn
💍 1919/5561

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
23

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

20 years
23 years

Methodist Church, Lower Hutt

4827

5 September 1919

Rev D. J. Murray

No	777
Date of Notice	5 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Theodore Aldersley	Lydia Slimm
BDM Match (91%)	Reginald Theodore Aldersley	Lydia Slinn
	💍 1919/5561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	4827
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev D. J. Murray

778

5 September 1919

Bertie Clarence Edmonds
Rosina Ethel Stanley

Bertie Clarence Edmonds
Rosina Ethel Stanley
💍 1919/4290

Bachelor
Spinster

Ship Repairer

21
29

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4872

5 September 1919

Registrar

No	778
Date of Notice	5 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Clarence Edmonds	Rosina Ethel Stanley
	💍 1919/4290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ship Repairer
Age	21	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4872
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

779

5 September 1919

Henry Phillip Matthewson
Irene Ruby Lilian Diusch

Henry Phillip Mathewson
Irene Ruby Lilian Dimock
💍 1919/7082

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

23
22

Wadestown
Wellington

15 years
22 years

St Pauls Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

6551

5 September 1919

Rev A. M. Johnson

No	779
Date of Notice	5 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Phillip Matthewson	Irene Ruby Lilian Diusch
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Phillip Mathewson	Irene Ruby Lilian Dimock
	💍 1919/7082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wadestown	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	6551
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. M. Johnson

780

6 September 1919

Francis McGregor
Lucy Mary Compton

Francis McGregor
Lucy Mary Compton
💍 1919/4291

Divorced Decree absolute 8/8/1919
Widow 14/8/1898

Baker

62
63

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4873

6 September 1919

Registrar

No	780
Date of Notice	6 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis McGregor	Lucy Mary Compton
	💍 1919/4291
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 8/8/1919	Widow 14/8/1898
Profession	Baker
Age	62	63
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4873
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).