Intentions to Marry, 1921 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840500, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 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.

1921e contains pages 1735-2142, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 2007

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Wellington Registrar [illegible]

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

726

4 July 1921

Harold George King
Barrie Justine [illegible surname]

Harold George King
Carrie Judkins
💍 1921/1918

Bachelor
Widow

carpenter

34
35

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

6037

4 July 1921

Deputy Registrar

No	726
Date of Notice	4 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold George King	Barrie Justine [illegible surname]
BDM Match (66%)	Harold George King	Carrie Judkins
	💍 1921/1918
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	carpenter
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	6037
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

727

5 July 1921

Harold Beale
Florence Eveline Butler

Harold Beale
Florence Evelyn Butler
💍 1921/1919

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

28
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 years

Baptist Church, Berhampore

6038

5 July 1921

Rev. R. K. Ewen, Baptist

No	727
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Beale	Florence Eveline Butler
BDM Match (96%)	Harold Beale	Florence Evelyn Butler
	💍 1921/1919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Berhampore
Folio	6038
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. K. Ewen, Baptist

728

5 July 1921

Harold Albert Borry
Ida Frances Oldridge

Harold Albert Corrigan
Ida Frances Oldridge
💍 1921/1920

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

26 years
2 months

Church of Sacred Heart, 2 Hill Street, Wellington

6039

5 July 1921

Rev. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

No	728
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Albert Borry	Ida Frances Oldridge
BDM Match (89%)	Harold Albert Corrigan	Ida Frances Oldridge
	💍 1921/1920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	26 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of Sacred Heart, 2 Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	6039
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

729

5 July 1921

John Murray White
Lucy Dorothy [illegible surname]

John Murray Ede
Lucy Dorothy White
💍 1921/1921

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
27

Kimberley
Wellington

7 years
19 years

[illegible]

6040

5 July 1921

Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

No	729
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Murray White	Lucy Dorothy [illegible surname]
BDM Match (62%)	John Murray Ede	Lucy Dorothy White
	💍 1921/1921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Kimberley	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	19 years
Marriage Place	[illegible]
Folio	6040
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

730

5 July 1921

James Henry Watson
Alice Ethel Bennett

James Henry Watson
Alice Ethel Bennett
💍 1921/1922

Widower
Spinster

Clerk

34
21

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
13 years

St Peters Anglican Church

6041

5 July 1921

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	730
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Watson	Alice Ethel Bennett
	💍 1921/1922
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Anglican Church
Folio	6041
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

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).