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 1820

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar R. A. 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

401

20 May 1919

Albert William Leadbrook
Louisa Leadbeater

Albert William Ledbrook
Louisa Leadbeater
💍 1919/2152

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

26
22

Wellington
Wellington

Life
8 Months

St Marks Church Wellington

1834

20 May 1919

Rev A. J. B. Page

No	401
Date of Notice	20 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert William Leadbrook	Louisa Leadbeater
BDM Match (98%)	Albert William Ledbrook	Louisa Leadbeater
	💍 1919/2152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	8 Months
Marriage Place	St Marks Church Wellington
Folio	1834
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. B. Page

402

21 May 1919

Frederick Arthur Carroll
Helen Laurenson

Frederick Arthur Carroll
Helen Laurenson
💍 1919/2129

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

34
24

Kaiwarra
Ngahauranga

12 Months
Life

St Andrews Church Wellington

1835

21 May 1919

Rev S. R. Orr

No	402
Date of Notice	21 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Arthur Carroll	Helen Laurenson
	💍 1919/2129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Kaiwarra	Ngahauranga
Length of Residence	12 Months	Life
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Wellington
Folio	1835
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev S. R. Orr

403

22 May 1919

Henry O'Neill
Johannah Josephine Henaughty

Henry O'Neill
Johannah Josephine Fenaughty
💍 1919/2130

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

35
33

Wellington
Wellington

3 Years
3 Years

St Anne's Church Newtown

1836

22 May 1919

Rev M. Devoy

No	403
Date of Notice	22 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry O'Neill	Johannah Josephine Henaughty
BDM Match (98%)	Henry O'Neill	Johannah Josephine Fenaughty
	💍 1919/2130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Years	3 Years
Marriage Place	St Anne's Church Newtown
Folio	1836
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev M. Devoy

404

23 May 1919

Leslie David Woolf
Eva Ellen Rickard

Leslie David Woolf
Eva Ellen Rickard
💍 1919/2131

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

23
21

Island Bay Wellington
Island Bay Wellington

3 Days
3 Years

Residence of Rev J. K. Ewen 46 Stanley St. Berhampore

1837

23 May 1919

Rev J. K. Ewen

No	404
Date of Notice	23 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie David Woolf	Eva Ellen Rickard
	💍 1919/2131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Island Bay Wellington	Island Bay Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Days	3 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev J. K. Ewen 46 Stanley St. Berhampore
Folio	1837
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Ewen

405

23 May 1919

William John Melville
Vera Florance Wheeler

William John Melville
Vera Florence Wheeler
💍 1919/2132

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

35
25

Wellington
Wellington

1 Year
4 Days

St Andrews Church Wellington

1838

23 May 1919

Rev S. R. Orr

No	405
Date of Notice	23 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Melville	Vera Florance Wheeler
BDM Match (98%)	William John Melville	Vera Florence Wheeler
	💍 1919/2132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 Year	4 Days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Wellington
Folio	1838
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev S. R. Orr

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).