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 1898

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Wellington Registrar J. W. Kelly

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

186

21 February 1921

William Morris Nunn
Myrtle Lydia Austin

William Morris Nunn
Myrtle Lydia Austin
💍 1921/2641

Bachelor
Spinster

Leadlight Artist

29
23

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

7 years
17 years

St. James Church

625

21 February 1921

Rev. A. E. Hansell, Church of England

No	186
Date of Notice	21 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Morris Nunn	Myrtle Lydia Austin
	💍 1921/2641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Leadlight Artist
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	7 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church
Folio	625
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Hansell, Church of England

187

21 February 1921

George Frederick Holloway
Annie Elizabeth Gibbs

George Frederick Holloway
Annie Elizabeth Gibbs
💍 1921/2649

Bachelor
Spinster

Professional Musician

26
29

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
6 Weeks

St. Mary's Church

626

21 February 1921

Rev. C. J. Anstey, Church of England

No	187
Date of Notice	21 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Holloway	Annie Elizabeth Gibbs
	💍 1921/2649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Professional Musician
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	6 Weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church
Folio	626
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Anstey, Church of England

188

21 February 1921

Robert Shiel
Alice Forrest

Robert Shiel
Alice Forrest
💍 1921/2660

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

30
21

Petone
Wellington

4 years
4 Months

Registrar's Office

627

21 February 1921

Registrar

No	188
Date of Notice	21 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Shiel	Alice Forrest
	💍 1921/2660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	4 Months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	627
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

189

22 February 1921

Douglas Henry Welch
Gladys Isabel Nelson

Douglas Henry Welch
Gladys Isabel Nelson
💍 1921/2666

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Salesman

24
26

Masterton
Wellington

23 years
3 days

M. B. J. Cummings, 51 Wallace St.

628

22 February 1921

Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterianism

No	189
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Henry Welch	Gladys Isabel Nelson
	💍 1921/2666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Salesman
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	3 days
Marriage Place	M. B. J. Cummings, 51 Wallace St.
Folio	628
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterianism

190

22 February 1921

William Herbert Ramferly Biggs
Alice Anton

William Herbert Ranfurly Biggs
Alice Anton
💍 1921/2667

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

23 years

St. Peter's Church

629

22 February 1921

Rev. J. H. Taylor, Church of England

No	190
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Ramferly Biggs	Alice Anton
BDM Match (97%)	William Herbert Ranfurly Biggs	Alice Anton
	💍 1921/2667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	629
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Taylor, Church of England

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).