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 1852

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar R. A. Boulton

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

556

11 July 1919

William Grant
Helen Watson

William Grant
Helen Watson
💍 1919/5332

William Edward Webster
Eileen Watson
💍 1920/3685

Bachelor
Spinster

Refrigerating Engineer

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

Life
5 years

The Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

4640

11 July 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	556
Date of Notice	11 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Grant	Helen Watson
	💍 1919/5332
BDM Match (61%)	William Edward Webster	Eileen Watson
	💍 1920/3685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Refrigerating Engineer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	5 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	4640
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

557

11 July 1919

Anthony Basil Hanify
Janet Mary Fox

Audrey Basil Hansby
Janet Mary Fox
💍 1919/5333

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

21
21

Lower Hutt
Wellington

3 months
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt

4641

11 July 1919

Rev. J. J. Lane

No	557
Date of Notice	11 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anthony Basil Hanify	Janet Mary Fox
BDM Match (83%)	Audrey Basil Hansby	Janet Mary Fox
	💍 1919/5333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	4641
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane

558

14 July 1919

Samuel Hall
Eleanor Rose Kay

Samuel Hall
Eleanor Rose Kay
💍 1919/5334

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

25
25

Berhampore, Wellington
Berhampore, Wellington

6 weeks
2 years

Residence of Mrs Rowe, 11 Burwah Street, Berhampore, Wellington

4642

14 July 1919

Rev. S. R. Smith

No	558
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Hall	Eleanor Rose Kay
	💍 1919/5334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Berhampore, Wellington	Berhampore, Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Rowe, 11 Burwah Street, Berhampore, Wellington
Folio	4642
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. R. Smith

559

14 July 1919

David Coulson
Annie Maria Ramsay

David Coulson
Annie Maria Ramsay
💍 1919/5335

Bachelor
Divorced - Decree absolute 7/6/1916

Seaman

36
45

Brooklyn
Kilbirnie

3 years
17 years

The Residence of J. Paterson, 73 Brougham Street, Wellington

4643

14 July 1919

Rev. J. Paterson

No	559
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Coulson	Annie Maria Ramsay
	💍 1919/5335
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced - Decree absolute 7/6/1916
Profession	Seaman
Age	36	45
Dwelling Place	Brooklyn	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of J. Paterson, 73 Brougham Street, Wellington
Folio	4643
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

560

14 July 1919

Conrad Robert Stroud
Mabel Giles

Conrad Robert Stroud
Mabel Giles
💍 1919/4270

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman

25
24

Wellington
Upper Hutt

2 weeks
6 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4703

14 July 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	560
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conrad Robert Stroud	Mabel Giles
	💍 1919/4270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	2 weeks	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4703
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 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).