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 1740

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

10 January 1919

Henry Kirke Hodge
Lena Catherine Marins

Henry Kirke Hodge
Lena Catherine Manins
💍 1919/365

Widower Sept. 1913
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

78
37

Wellington
Wellington

3 Days
35 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

114

10 January 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	10 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Kirke Hodge	Lena Catherine Marins
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Kirke Hodge	Lena Catherine Manins
	💍 1919/365
Condition	Widower Sept. 1913	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	78	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Days	35 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	114
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

11 January 1919

Francis Pettitt Rule
Nora Margaret Ready

Francis Pettitt Rule
Nora Margaret Ready
💍 1919/366

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

22
19

Wellington
Wellington

7 mos
5 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

115

Ellen Ready Mother

11 January 1919

Deputy Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	11 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Pettitt Rule	Nora Margaret Ready
	💍 1919/366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 mos	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	115
Consent	Ellen Ready Mother
Date of Certificate	11 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

13 January 1919

William Henry Cook
Clara Edelman

William Henry Cook
Clara Edelman
💍 1919/1897

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator

25
21

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
Life

Methodist Central Mission Webb St Wellington

1654

13 January 1919

Rev. G. K. Smith

No	18
Date of Notice	13 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Cook	Clara Edelman
	💍 1919/1897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Central Mission Webb St Wellington
Folio	1654
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Smith

13 January 1919

Colin Dalbeth
Elsie May Petherick

Colin Dalbeth
Elsie May Petherick
💍 1919/1898

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

2 days
Life

Methodist Church Webb Street Wellington

1655

13 January 1919

Rev. G. K. Smith

No	19
Date of Notice	13 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Dalbeth	Elsie May Petherick
	💍 1919/1898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 days	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Webb Street Wellington
Folio	1655
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Smith

14 January 1919

Alexander Lewis Milne
Eleanore Annie Beagley

Alexander Lewis Milne
Eleanore Annie Beagley
💍 1919/367

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
23

Wellington
Wellington

7 mos
21 years

St James's Church Newtown Wellington

116

14 January 1919

Rev. W. Shirer

No	20
Date of Notice	14 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Lewis Milne	Eleanore Annie Beagley
	💍 1919/367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 mos	21 years
Marriage Place	St James's Church Newtown Wellington
Folio	116
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).