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 2054

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar R. E. Binns

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

116

30 January 1920

Henry Samuel Milford
Catherine Sarah Lightfoot

Henry Samuel Milford
Catherine Sarah Lightfoot
💍 1920/4289

Bachelor
Spinster

Paper Ruling Machinist

26
24

Newtown
Newtown Wellington

26 years
4 years

St Thomas' Church

589

30 January 1920

Rev W. Fancourt Anglican Church of England

No	116
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Samuel Milford	Catherine Sarah Lightfoot
	💍 1920/4289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Paper Ruling Machinist
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Newtown	Newtown Wellington
Length of Residence	26 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Thomas' Church
Folio	589
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Fancourt Anglican Church of England

117

30 January 1920

Albert Victor Horner Wallis
Marian Bertha Baulcombe

Albert Victor Horne Wallis
Marian Bertha Baulcombe
💍 1920/4290

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

40
37

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 days (arrived per S.S. "Bremen")

St Marks' Church Wellington

590

30 January 1920

Rev. A. T. B. Page Anglican Church of England

No	117
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Victor Horner Wallis	Marian Bertha Baulcombe
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Victor Horne Wallis	Marian Bertha Baulcombe
	💍 1920/4290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	40	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days (arrived per S.S. "Bremen")
Marriage Place	St Marks' Church Wellington
Folio	590
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. T. B. Page Anglican Church of England

118

30 January 1920

Oliver Charles Burt
Louisa Dorothy Cunningham

Oliver Charles Burt
Louisa Dorothy Cunningham
💍 1920/4291

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter

24
22

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

16 years
Life

Presbyterian Church Lower Hutt

591

30 January 1920

Rev. J. H. McCaw Presbyterian

No	118
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oliver Charles Burt	Louisa Dorothy Cunningham
	💍 1920/4291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	16 years	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Lower Hutt
Folio	591
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. McCaw Presbyterian

119

30 January 1920

Joseph Richard McKeon
Ivy Byron

Joseph Richard McKeon
Ivy Byron
💍 1920/4292

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

33
23

S.S. Kapuni
Wellington

9 months
6 days

Registrars' Office Wellington

592

30 January 1920

Deputy Registrar

No	119
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Richard McKeon	Ivy Byron
	💍 1920/4292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	S.S. Kapuni	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrars' Office Wellington
Folio	592
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

120

30 January 1920

Alexander McIvor Rosie
Mary Paterson Wilson

Alexander McIvor Rosie
Mary Paterson Wilson
💍 1920/4293

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

32
31

Kelburn
Kelburn

10 years
8 years

St Johns Church Wellington

593

30 January 1920

Rev. H. W. Burridge Presbyterian

No	120
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McIvor Rosie	Mary Paterson Wilson
	💍 1920/4293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Kelburn	Kelburn
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Wellington
Folio	593
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Burridge 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).