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 1842

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar R. G. Poulton

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

510

26 June 1919

Herbert Douglas Smith
Ivy Pearl Olive Fraser

Herbert Douglas Smith
Ivy Pearl Olive Fraser
💍 1919/2176

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

27
22

WELLINGTON
WELLINGTON

27 Years
10 Years

Presbyterian Church Evans Bay, WELLINGTON

1933

26 June 1919

Rev H Beggs, Presbyterian

No	510
Date of Notice	26 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Douglas Smith	Ivy Pearl Olive Fraser
	💍 1919/2176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	WELLINGTON	WELLINGTON
Length of Residence	27 Years	10 Years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Evans Bay, WELLINGTON
Folio	1933
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H Beggs, Presbyterian

511

26 June 1919

Cornish Tunley
Hilda May Briant

Cornish Tunley
Hilda May Briant
💍 1919/2177

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

25
18

Paparangi WELLINGTON
Paparangi WELLINGTON

14 Years
Life

Church of England, Newlands

1934

George Briant, Father

26 June 1919

Rev H. Petrie, Church of England

No	511
Date of Notice	26 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornish Tunley	Hilda May Briant
	💍 1919/2177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Paparangi WELLINGTON	Paparangi WELLINGTON
Length of Residence	14 Years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Newlands
Folio	1934
Consent	George Briant, Father
Date of Certificate	26 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. Petrie, Church of England

512

26 June 1919

William Beard
Catherine Hanna McGlarry

William Beard
Catherine Nanna McGlarry
💍 1919/2154

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

38
37

WELLINGTON
WELLINGTON

30 Years
21 Years

Registrar's Office WELLINGTON

1935

26 June 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	512
Date of Notice	26 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Beard	Catherine Hanna McGlarry
BDM Match (98%)	William Beard	Catherine Nanna McGlarry
	💍 1919/2154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	38	37
Dwelling Place	WELLINGTON	WELLINGTON
Length of Residence	30 Years	21 Years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office WELLINGTON
Folio	1935
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

513

27 June 1919

Ernest William Hewson
Vera May Smith

Ernest William Hewson
Vera May Smith
💍 1919/2155

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
20

Petone
Petone

12 Years
4 Years

St Augustines Church, Petone

1936

William John Smith, Father

27 June 1919

Rev H. S. Stealey, Church of England

No	513
Date of Notice	27 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Hewson	Vera May Smith
	💍 1919/2155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	12 Years	4 Years
Marriage Place	St Augustines Church, Petone
Folio	1936
Consent	William John Smith, Father
Date of Certificate	27 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. S. Stealey, Church of England

514

27 June 1919

Theodore Melville Jennens
Evelien Maud English

Theodore Melville Jennens
Eveleen Maud English
💍 1919/2156

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
19

WELLINGTON
WELLINGTON

2 Years
5 Years

Methodist Church Webb St. WELLINGTON

1937

William English, Father

27 June 1919

Rev G. K. Smith, Methodist

No	514
Date of Notice	27 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Melville Jennens	Evelien Maud English
BDM Match (98%)	Theodore Melville Jennens	Eveleen Maud English
	💍 1919/2156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	WELLINGTON	WELLINGTON
Length of Residence	2 Years	5 Years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Webb St. WELLINGTON
Folio	1937
Consent	William English, Father
Date of Certificate	27 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G. K. Smith, Methodist

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).