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 2130

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar R. C. O'Connor

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

486

20 April 1920

Montague Consett Stephen
Mary Elizabeth Kathleen Hosking

Montagu Consett Stephen
Mary Elizabeth Kathleen Hosking
💍 1920/5586

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

31
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
6 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

3352

20 April 1920

Rev. G. N. Turner, Anglican

No	486
Date of Notice	20 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Montague Consett Stephen	Mary Elizabeth Kathleen Hosking
BDM Match (98%)	Montagu Consett Stephen	Mary Elizabeth Kathleen Hosking
	💍 1920/5586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	3352
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. N. Turner, Anglican

487

20 April 1920

Victor Emanuel Griffiths
Wilhelmina Gilchrist

Victor Emanuel Griffiths
Wilhelmina Gilchrist
💍 1920/5593

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

31
24

Lower Hutt
Wellington

6 years
2 years

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

3353

20 April 1920

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	487
Date of Notice	20 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Emanuel Griffiths	Wilhelmina Gilchrist
	💍 1920/5593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	3353
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

488

20 April 1920

William Marshall
Johanna McKay

William Marshall
Johanna McKay
💍 1920/5594

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

28
19

Wellington
Epuni Hamlet

7 years
6 years

St. Andrews Church, The Terrace, Wellington

3354

Margaret Anderson McKay (mother)

20 April 1920

Rev. S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

No	488
Date of Notice	20 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Marshall	Johanna McKay
	💍 1920/5594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Epuni Hamlet
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	3354
Consent	Margaret Anderson McKay (mother)
Date of Certificate	20 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. R. Orr, Presbyterian

489

20 April 1920

Aubrey Sherman Clark
Annie Barbara Louisa Inman

Aubrey Sherman Clark
Annie Barbara Louisa Inman
💍 1920/5595

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

32
29

Wellington
Brooklyn

3 days
25 years

Catholic Apostolic Church, Webb Street, Wellington

3355

20 April 1920

Mr. W. T. Thane, Catholic Apostolic

No	489
Date of Notice	20 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aubrey Sherman Clark	Annie Barbara Louisa Inman
	💍 1920/5595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Brooklyn
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Apostolic Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	3355
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Mr. W. T. Thane, Catholic Apostolic

490

20 April 1920

James Boylan McKenna
Maud Henry

James Boylan McKenna
Maud Henry
💍 1920/5596

Divorced Decree absolute 13/12/1916
Spinster

Drain-layer

43
34

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
1 month

Registrars Office, Wellington

3356

20 April 1920

Registrar

No	490
Date of Notice	20 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Boylan McKenna	Maud Henry
	💍 1920/5596
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 13/12/1916	Spinster
Profession	Drain-layer
Age	43	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	3356
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).