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 1916

District of 31 March 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

276

14 March 1921

John Alleyne Bigg
Una H. Doris Parata

John Alleyne Bigg-Wither
Una Doris Parata
💍 1921/2701

Bachelor
Widow

Soldier R.N.Z.A.

22
27

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
12 months

St Peter's Church, Wellington

713

14 March 1921

H. Watson, Anglican

No	276
Date of Notice	14 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alleyne Bigg	Una H. Doris Parata
BDM Match (78%)	John Alleyne Bigg-Wither	Una Doris Parata
	💍 1921/2701
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Soldier R.N.Z.A.
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	713
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1921
Officiating Minister	H. Watson, Anglican

277

15 March 1921

Charles Henry Fitzsimmons
Martha Brazier Watson

Charles Henry Fitzsimmons
Martha Brazier Watson
💍 1921/2702

Bachelor
Spinster

French Polisher

24
19

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
3 weeks

Baptist Church, Berhampore

714

John Edward Watson, Father

15 March 1921

J. H. Ewen, Baptist

No	277
Date of Notice	15 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Fitzsimmons	Martha Brazier Watson
	💍 1921/2702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	French Polisher
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Berhampore
Folio	714
Consent	John Edward Watson, Father
Date of Certificate	15 March 1921
Officiating Minister	J. H. Ewen, Baptist

278

15 March 1921

Stanley William Bradley
Eva Florence Hastie

Stanley William Bradley
Eva Florence Hastie
💍 1921/2703

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years

Residence of Rev. J. K. Elliott, 37 Kent Terrace, Wellington

715

15 March 1921

J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	278
Date of Notice	15 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley William Bradley	Eva Florence Hastie
	💍 1921/2703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence		2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. K. Elliott, 37 Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	715
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1921
Officiating Minister	J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

279

15 March 1921

Henry Quartermain Bruce
Lily Elizabeth Bond

Henry Quartermain Bruce
Lily Elizabeth Bond
💍 1921/2704

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

39
34

Wellington
Kilbirnie

16 years
9 days

All Saints Church, Kilbirnie

716

15 March 1921

J. H. Sykes, Anglican

No	279
Date of Notice	15 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Quartermain Bruce	Lily Elizabeth Bond
	💍 1921/2704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	16 years	9 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Kilbirnie
Folio	716
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1921
Officiating Minister	J. H. Sykes, Anglican

280

15 March 1921

William Randolph Gillard
Bessie Cant

William Randolph Gillard
Bessie Cant
💍 1921/2705

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

33
33

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 day

Registrar's Office, Wellington

717

15 March 1921

Registrar

No	280
Date of Notice	15 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Randolph Gillard	Bessie Cant
	💍 1921/2705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 day
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	717
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).