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 2080

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. P. Ward

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

241

28 February 1920

Charles Thomas Pudney
Wilhelmina Elizabeth Pickrang

Charles Thomas Pudney
Wilhelmina Elizabeth Pickrang
💍 1920/4335

Bachelor
Widow 27-9-1913

Driver

36
41

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
8 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

710

28 February 1920

Registrar

No	241
Date of Notice	28 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thomas Pudney	Wilhelmina Elizabeth Pickrang
	💍 1920/4335
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 27-9-1913
Profession	Driver
Age	36	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	710
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

242

28 February 1920

Joseph Dalyell Rankin
Victoria Annie Elizabeth Potter

Joseph Dalzell Renkin
Victoria Annie Elizabeth Potter
💍 1920/4336

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
7 years

St Marks Church Wellington

711

28 February 1920

Rev A. T. B. Page Anglican

No	242
Date of Notice	28 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Dalyell Rankin	Victoria Annie Elizabeth Potter
BDM Match (95%)	Joseph Dalzell Renkin	Victoria Annie Elizabeth Potter
	💍 1920/4336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church Wellington
Folio	711
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. T. B. Page Anglican

243

1 March 1920

James Smith Macarthur
Regina Cameron Smith

James Smith Macarthur
Fiona Cameron Smith
💍 1920/4337

Widower 30-3-1913
Spinster

Company's Managing Director

46
22

Kelburn
Kelburn

23 years
12 years

Residence of Rev J Gibson-Smith 100 Upland Road Kelburn Wellington

712

1 March 1920

Rev J Gibson-Smith Presbyterian

No	243
Date of Notice	1 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith Macarthur	Regina Cameron Smith
BDM Match (90%)	James Smith Macarthur	Fiona Cameron Smith
	💍 1920/4337
Condition	Widower 30-3-1913	Spinster
Profession	Company's Managing Director
Age	46	22
Dwelling Place	Kelburn	Kelburn
Length of Residence	23 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev J Gibson-Smith 100 Upland Road Kelburn Wellington
Folio	712
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J Gibson-Smith Presbyterian

244

1 March 1920

Reginald Anthony Munt
Margaret Fyord Ginders

Reginald Anthony Munt
Margaret Izard Ginders
💍 1920/4338

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

27
22

Newtown
Island Bay Wellington

27 years
14 years

Residence of Bride's Parents 35 Ribble Street Island Bay Wellington

713

1 March 1920

Rev J K Elliott Presbyterian

No	244
Date of Notice	1 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Anthony Munt	Margaret Fyord Ginders
BDM Match (93%)	Reginald Anthony Munt	Margaret Izard Ginders
	💍 1920/4338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Newtown	Island Bay Wellington
Length of Residence	27 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Parents 35 Ribble Street Island Bay Wellington
Folio	713
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J K Elliott Presbyterian

245

1 March 1920

Frederick Cooper
Ellen Ethel Shearer

Frederick Cooper
Ileen Ethel Shearer
💍 1920/4339

Bachelor
Spinster

Gas meter Repairer

28
24

Wellington
Wellington

28 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington

714

1 March 1920

Rev J K Elliott Presbyterian

No	245
Date of Notice	1 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Cooper	Ellen Ethel Shearer
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick Cooper	Ileen Ethel Shearer
	💍 1920/4339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gas meter Repairer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	28 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kent Terrace Wellington
Folio	714
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J K Elliott 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).