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 1860

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. P. Donllon

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

596

22 July 1919

Alfred Lionel March
Lucy Ethel Hugo

Alfred Lionel Marsh
Lucy Ethel Hugo
💍 1919/5362

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
33

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
11 years

St. Thomas' Church Wellington South

4669

22 July 1919

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	596
Date of Notice	22 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Lionel March	Lucy Ethel Hugo
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Lionel Marsh	Lucy Ethel Hugo
	💍 1919/5362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church Wellington South
Folio	4669
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

597

22 July 1919

Edward George Hyde
Mildred Wade Kersey

Edward George Hyde
Mildred Wade Kersey
💍 1919/5363

Widower 17/6/1919
Spinster

Public Servant

65
49

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
7 months

Presbyterian Church Kilbirnie

4670

22 July 1919

Rev. H. Beggs

No	597
Date of Notice	22 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward George Hyde	Mildred Wade Kersey
	💍 1919/5363
Condition	Widower 17/6/1919	Spinster
Profession	Public Servant
Age	65	49
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kilbirnie
Folio	4670
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

598

22 July 1919

Sydney John Weggery
Lilian Anastasia Eugenie Robinson

Sydney John Weggery
Lilian Anastasia Eugenie Robinson
💍 1919/5364

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
13 years

St. Peter's Church Willis street Wellington

4671

Sir Robert Stout Chief Justice

22 July 1919

Rev. H. Watson

No	598
Date of Notice	22 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney John Weggery	Lilian Anastasia Eugenie Robinson
	💍 1919/5364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Willis street Wellington
Folio	4671
Consent	Sir Robert Stout Chief Justice
Date of Certificate	22 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

599

22 July 1919

Malcolm James Jackson
Ruth Evelyn Ramsay

Malcolm James Jackson
Ruth Evelyn Ramsay
💍 1919/5365

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

31
23

Trentham
Wellington

8 months
8 months

St. Andrews Church Wellington

4672

22 July 1919

Rev. S. R. Orr

No	599
Date of Notice	22 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm James Jackson	Ruth Evelyn Ramsay
	💍 1919/5365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church Wellington
Folio	4672
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. R. Orr

600

22 July 1919

Albert Robertson Solway
Ida Winifred Hemsley

Albert Robertson Solway
Ida Winifred Hemsley
💍 1919/5366

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

24
20

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
20 years

St. Mary's Church Karori Wellington

4673

Albert Charles Hemsley Father

22 July 1919

Rev. S. Y. Woodward

No	600
Date of Notice	22 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Robertson Solway	Ida Winifred Hemsley
	💍 1919/5366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Karori Wellington
Folio	4673
Consent	Albert Charles Hemsley Father
Date of Certificate	22 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Y. Woodward

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).