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 1862

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. G. Boullion

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

606

25 July 1919

John Reilly
Hannah Margaret Eales

John Reilly
Hannah Margaret Gass
💍 1919/5425

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

30
28

Wellington
Porirua

6 months
18 months

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

4675

25 July 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	606
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Reilly	Hannah Margaret Eales
BDM Match (93%)	John Reilly	Hannah Margaret Gass
	💍 1919/5425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Porirua
Length of Residence	6 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	4675
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

607

25 July 1919

Joseph Oliver Fidler
Caroline Phillips

Joseph Oliver Fidler
Caroline Phillips
💍 1919/5436

Bachelor
Spinster

Wood-working Machinist

37
28

Wellington
Wellington

18 days
12 months

St Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

4676

25 July 1919

Rev. H. Watson

No	607
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Oliver Fidler	Caroline Phillips
	💍 1919/5436
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wood-working Machinist
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 days	12 months
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	4676
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

608

25 July 1919

Riley Charles Coffey
Effie Lea Ell

Kiley Charles Coffey
Effie Lea Ell
💍 1919/4257

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

26
20

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

10 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4714

Frank Ell, Father

25 July 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	608
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Riley Charles Coffey	Effie Lea Ell
BDM Match (98%)	Kiley Charles Coffey	Effie Lea Ell
	💍 1919/4257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4714
Consent	Frank Ell, Father
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

609

25 July 1919

Henry Phillips
Louisa May Scott

Henry Phillips
Louisa May Scott
💍 1919/5443

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter Carrier

23
25

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

4677

25 July 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	609
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Phillips	Louisa May Scott
	💍 1919/5443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter Carrier
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	4677
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

610

25 July 1919

Fredrick Charles Reed
Lena Annie Amelia Coe

Fredrick Charles Reid
Lena Annie Amelia Coe
💍 1919/4258

Widower 25/12/1917
Spinster

Tramway Motorman

27
19

Berhampore
Island Bay

4 years
11 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4715

George Henry Albert Coe, Father

25 July 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	610
Date of Notice	25 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Charles Reed	Lena Annie Amelia Coe
BDM Match (98%)	Fredrick Charles Reid	Lena Annie Amelia Coe
	💍 1919/4258
Condition	Widower 25/12/1917	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Motorman
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Berhampore	Island Bay
Length of Residence	4 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4715
Consent	George Henry Albert Coe, Father
Date of Certificate	25 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).