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 1766

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

141

27 February 1919

Kenneth Gordon Don
Gladys May Friend

Kenneth Gordon Don
Gladys May Friend
💍 1919/437

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Officer

22
25

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
12 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

236

27 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	141
Date of Notice	27 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Gordon Don	Gladys May Friend
	💍 1919/437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Officer
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	236
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

142

27 February 1919

Gerald Thomas Silk
Alice Frances Rogers Gibson

Gerald Thomas Silk
Alice Frances Rogers Gibson
💍 1919/438

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

18
22

Wellington
Wellington

Life
2 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

237

Henry Silk father

27 February 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	142
Date of Notice	27 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Thomas Silk	Alice Frances Rogers Gibson
	💍 1919/438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	18	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	237
Consent	Henry Silk father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

143

27 February 1919

William Andrew Jameson
Frances Ferguson

William Andrew Jameson
Frances Ferguson
💍 1919/439

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
29

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
8 years

The Residence of Mrs Ferguson 345 The Terrace Wellington

238

27 February 1919

Rev. J. Gibb

No	143
Date of Notice	27 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Andrew Jameson	Frances Ferguson
	💍 1919/439
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mrs Ferguson 345 The Terrace Wellington
Folio	238
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

144

28 February 1919

Arthur Norman Williams
Rachael Maud Quinn

Arthur Norman Williams
Rachel Maud Quinn
💍 1919/440

Bachelor
Widow 21/6/1904

Plumber

52
50

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
2 years

The Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington

239

28 February 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	144
Date of Notice	28 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Norman Williams	Rachael Maud Quinn
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Norman Williams	Rachel Maud Quinn
	💍 1919/440
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 21/6/1904
Profession	Plumber
Age	52	50
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse 35 Pirie Street Wellington
Folio	239
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

145

28 February 1919

Walter Alexander Cairns
Mabel Delia Hodge

Walter Alexander Cairns
Mabel Delia Hodge
💍 1919/441

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

24
27

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
Life

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

240

28 February 1919

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	145
Date of Notice	28 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Alexander Cairns	Mabel Delia Hodge
	💍 1919/441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	240
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).