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 1802

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

311

22 April 1919

William Higson
Dorothy Turner

William Higson
Dorothy Turner
💍 1919/2220

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

32
26

Wellington
Petone

3 days
7 years

St Augustines Church Petone

1799

22 April 1919

Rev. H. T. Stealey

No	311
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Higson	Dorothy Turner
	💍 1919/2220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	St Augustines Church Petone
Folio	1799
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. Stealey

312

22 April 1919

Charles Goldstone
Matilda Morpeth

Charles Goldstone
Matilda Morpeth
💍 1919/1977

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

32
27

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
3 months

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

1800

22 April 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	312
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Goldstone	Matilda Morpeth
	💍 1919/1977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	1800
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

313

22 April 1919

George James Dupre Taylor
Zella Evelina Smith

George James Dupry Taylor
Zella Evelina Smith
💍 1919/2478

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith

21
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

1801

22 April 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	313
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Dupre Taylor	Zella Evelina Smith
BDM Match (98%)	George James Dupry Taylor	Zella Evelina Smith
	💍 1919/2478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	1801
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

314

22 April 1919

John McCausland Hamilton
Mary May Mostyn Hoops

John McCousland Hamilton
Mary May Mostyn Hoops
💍 1919/2489

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

38
27

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
7 years

St Marks Church Wellington

1802

22 April 1919

Rev. W. L. Bates

No	314
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McCausland Hamilton	Mary May Mostyn Hoops
BDM Match (98%)	John McCousland Hamilton	Mary May Mostyn Hoops
	💍 1919/2489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church Wellington
Folio	1802
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. L. Bates

315

22 April 1919

Thomas Winds
Edith Sarah Stringer

Thomas Winks
Edith Sarah Stringer
💍 1919/2496

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 28/11/1913

Warehouseman

39
41

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
Life

Residence of Mr Edwin Arnold 2 Kensington Street Wellington

1803

22 April 1919

Rev. J. J. Chapman

No	315
Date of Notice	22 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Winds	Edith Sarah Stringer
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Winks	Edith Sarah Stringer
	💍 1919/2496
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 28/11/1913
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	39	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Edwin Arnold 2 Kensington Street Wellington
Folio	1803
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Chapman

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).