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 1752

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

4 February 1919

Austin Herbert Wensley
Anne Coulthard

Austin Herbert Wensley
Anne Coulthard
💍 1919/4010

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
27

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
3 months

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

171

4 February 1919

T. F. Taylor

No	76
Date of Notice	4 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Austin Herbert Wensley	Anne Coulthard
	💍 1919/4010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	171
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1919
Officiating Minister	T. F. Taylor

4 February 1919

Thomas Masterton Cotter
Bridget Philomena Collins

Thomas Masterson Cotter
Bridget Philomena Collins
💍 1919/4011

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

27
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
2 years

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

172

4 February 1919

J. L. Dignam

No	77
Date of Notice	4 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Masterton Cotter	Bridget Philomena Collins
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Masterson Cotter	Bridget Philomena Collins
	💍 1919/4011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	172
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1919
Officiating Minister	J. L. Dignam

4 February 1919

Alfred Ernest Harle
Edith Mayne Williamson

Alfred Ernest Harle
Edith Mayne Williamson
💍 1919/4012

Widower 22/3/1918
Spinster

Farmer

41
40

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
23 days

The Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

173

4 February 1919

J. K. Elliott

No	78
Date of Notice	4 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Harle	Edith Mayne Williamson
	💍 1919/4012
Condition	Widower 22/3/1918	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	23 days
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	173
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1919
Officiating Minister	J. K. Elliott

4 February 1919

Claude Tucker Fear
Lillie Norman

Claude Tucker Fear
Lillie Norman
💍 1919/4013

Married not heard of wife as alive for 17 years last past
Widow 21 Oct: 1913

Asbestos Plate Maker

53
44

Normandale
Normandale

14 years
14 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

174

4 February 1919

Dep. Registrar

No	79
Date of Notice	4 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Tucker Fear	Lillie Norman
	💍 1919/4013
Condition	Married not heard of wife as alive for 17 years last past	Widow 21 Oct: 1913
Profession	Asbestos Plate Maker
Age	53	44
Dwelling Place	Normandale	Normandale
Length of Residence	14 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	174
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Dep. Registrar

4 February 1919

Levi Smith
Mary Jane Westrup

Levi Smith
May Jane Westing
💍 1919/4174

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
21

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
2 years

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

175

4 February 1919

T. F. Taylor

No	80
Date of Notice	4 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Levi Smith	Mary Jane Westrup
BDM Match (88%)	Levi Smith	May Jane Westing
	💍 1919/4174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	175
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1919
Officiating Minister	T. F. Taylor

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).