Intentions to Marry, 1920 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840492, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1920e contains pages 1885-2344, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 2051

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. C. Brandy

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

101

28 January 1920

Valentine Leslie Palmer
Eleanor Kidston

Valentine Leslie Palmer
Eleanor Kidston
💍 1920/2136

Bachelor
Spinster

Secretary
School Teacher

25
24

Wellington
Christchurch

8 years
1 year

Residence of Mr. W. Kidston, 24 Rugby Street, Christchurch

244

28 January 1920

Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	101
Date of Notice	28 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Valentine Leslie Palmer	Eleanor Kidston
	💍 1920/2136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Secretary	School Teacher
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Kidston, 24 Rugby Street, Christchurch
Folio	244
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian

102

28 January 1920

Karl Axel Anderson
Gladys Lilyan Newport

Karl Axel Anderson
Gladys Lilyan Newport
💍 1920/3086

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

34
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

575

28 January 1920

(Registrar)

No	102
Date of Notice	28 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Karl Axel Anderson	Gladys Lilyan Newport
	💍 1920/3086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	575
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1920
Officiating Minister	(Registrar)

103

28 January 1920

Reginald Arthur Ponting
Flora Annie Upston

Reginald Arthur Ponting
Flora Annie Upston
💍 1920/4284

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
19 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

576

No person in N.Z. having authority by law to give consent.

12 February 1920

(Registrar)

No	103
Date of Notice	28 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Arthur Ponting	Flora Annie Upston
	💍 1920/4284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	576
Consent	No person in N.Z. having authority by law to give consent.
Date of Certificate	12 February 1920
Officiating Minister	(Registrar)

104

28 January 1920

Robert Palmer
Alice Bridget Richardson

Robert Palmer
Alice Bridget Richardson
💍 1920/4295

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
19 years

St Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

577

28 January 1920

Rev. D. H. Hurley (Roman Catholic)

No	104
Date of Notice	28 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Palmer	Alice Bridget Richardson
	💍 1920/4295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	577
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley (Roman Catholic)

105

29 January 1920

Walter John Williams
Ellen Martha Stanley

Walter John Williams
Ellen Martha Stanley
💍 1920/4302

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
27

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Wallaceville

578

29 January 1920

Mr. A. M. Climie (Presbyterian)

No	105
Date of Notice	29 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Williams	Ellen Martha Stanley
	💍 1920/4302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Wallaceville
Folio	578
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. A. M. Climie (Presbyterian)

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).