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 1824

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

421

29 May 1919

William McAfee Knox
Katherine Hagan

William Mcafee Knox
Katherine Hagan
💍 1919/2097

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Messenger

46
29

Wellington
Wellington

4 Years
6 Years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

1904

29 May 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	421
Date of Notice	29 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McAfee Knox	Katherine Hagan
BDM Match (97%)	William Mcafee Knox	Katherine Hagan
	💍 1919/2097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Messenger
Age	46	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 Years	6 Years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	1904
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

422

30 May 1919

Frank Rutter Hoar
Berenice Olive Ruth Billington

Frank Rutter Hoar
Bernice Olive Ruth Billington
💍 1919/2098

Bachelor
Spinster

Monumental Mason

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 months

Baptist Church, Berhampore, Wellington

1905

30 May 1919

Rev. T. K. Ewen

No	422
Date of Notice	30 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Rutter Hoar	Berenice Olive Ruth Billington
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Rutter Hoar	Bernice Olive Ruth Billington
	💍 1919/2098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Monumental Mason
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Berhampore, Wellington
Folio	1905
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. K. Ewen

423

30 May 1919

Harold Henry Kidson
Caroline Myrtle Foote

Harold Henry Kidson
Caroline Myrtle Foote
💍 1919/2099

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
Life

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

1906

30 May 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	423
Date of Notice	30 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Henry Kidson	Caroline Myrtle Foote
	💍 1919/2099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	1906
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

424

30 May 1919

Hector John Butler Carruthers
Margaret Mary Martin

Hector John Butler Carruthers
Margaret Mary Martin
💍 1919/2100

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
11 years

The Basilica, Hill St., Wellington

1907

30 May 1919

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	424
Date of Notice	30 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector John Butler Carruthers	Margaret Mary Martin
	💍 1919/2100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	11 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill St., Wellington
Folio	1907
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

425

30 May 1919

George Percy Cecil Evans
Doris Violet Thornton

George Percy Cecil Evans
Doris Violet Thornton
💍 1919/2101

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

36
26

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
Life

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

1908

30 May 1919

Rev. H. Watson

No	425
Date of Notice	30 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Percy Cecil Evans	Doris Violet Thornton
	💍 1919/2101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	Life
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	1908
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

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).