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 1878

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. 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

686

12 August 1919

Richard Arthur Howie
Florence Bridget Guthrie

Richard Arthur Howie
Florence Bridget Outtram
💍 1919/5465

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

27
21

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
21 Years

St Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

4772

12 August 1919

Rev. C. J. O'Connor

No	686
Date of Notice	12 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Arthur Howie	Florence Bridget Guthrie
BDM Match (92%)	Richard Arthur Howie	Florence Bridget Outtram
	💍 1919/5465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	21 Years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	4772
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. O'Connor

687

13 August 1919

Arthur Underwood
Rosa Jane Townley

Arthur Underwood
Rosa Jane Townley
💍 1919/5466

Bachelor
Spinster

Metal Worker

30
24

Wellington
Wellington

30 Years
24 Years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4773

13 August 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	687
Date of Notice	13 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Underwood	Rosa Jane Townley
	💍 1919/5466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Metal Worker
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 Years	24 Years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4773
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

688

13 August 1919

William Thomas Durrell
Ruth Anna Bowman

William Thomas Durrell
Ruth Anna Bowman
💍 1919/5565

Widower 3/7/1893
Divorcee Decree absolute 5/7/1918

Retired

62
54

Wellington
Wellington

1 Week
3 Weeks

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4848

13 August 1919

Registrar

No	688
Date of Notice	13 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Durrell	Ruth Anna Bowman
	💍 1919/5565
Condition	Widower 3/7/1893	Divorcee Decree absolute 5/7/1918
Profession	Retired
Age	62	54
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 Week	3 Weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4848
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Registrar

689

13 August 1919

Ellis Hallam Charlesworth
Jacobina Campbell Luke

Ellis Hallam Charlesworth
Jacobina Campbell Luke
💍 1919/5467

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

36
27

Wellington
Wellington

4 Weeks
27 Years

St Marks Church, Wellington

4774

13 August 1919

Rev. A. J. B. Page

No	689
Date of Notice	13 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ellis Hallam Charlesworth	Jacobina Campbell Luke
	💍 1919/5467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 Weeks	27 Years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	4774
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. B. Page

690

14 August 1919

Henry Ernest Matthew Parraut
Ethel Pole

Henry Ernest Matthew Parrant
Ethel Pole
💍 1919/5500

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

29
28

Petone
Wellington

29 Years
4 Years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

4775

14 August 1919

Rev. J. H. Elliott

No	690
Date of Notice	14 August 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ernest Matthew Parraut	Ethel Pole
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Ernest Matthew Parrant	Ethel Pole
	💍 1919/5500
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	29 Years	4 Years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	4775
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Elliott

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).