Intentions to Marry, 1922 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840508, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 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.

1922e contains pages 1691-2058, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 1941

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1922 Registrar H. L. Thorpe

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

661

5 July 1922

Charles Edward Waugh
Harriet Lucy Whitworth

Charles Edward Waugh
Harriet Lucy Whitworth
💍 1922/5256

Divorced, Decree absolute 10/12/1918
Divorced, Decree absolute 15/9/1921

Japanner

41
40

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki St. Wellington

4979

5 July 1922

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	661
Date of Notice	5 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Waugh	Harriet Lucy Whitworth
	💍 1922/5256
Condition	Divorced, Decree absolute 10/12/1918	Divorced, Decree absolute 15/9/1921
Profession	Japanner
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki St. Wellington
Folio	4979
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

662

5 July 1922

Norman Tait Gooder
Agnes Sinclair Coffey

Norman Tait Gooder
Agnes Sinclair Coffey
💍 1922/5257

Bachelor
Spinster

Vulcanizer & Importer

29
31

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
Life

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

4980

5 July 1922

Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

No	662
Date of Notice	5 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Tait Gooder	Agnes Sinclair Coffey
	💍 1922/5257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Vulcanizer & Importer
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	Life
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	4980
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

663

5 July 1922

Charles Victor Sutton
Williamina Williamson Gray

Charles Victor Sutton
Williamina Williamson Gray
💍 1922/5258

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Lorry Driver

21
21

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
Life

Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace, Wellington

4981

5 July 1922

Rev. H. M. Holland, Congregational Independent

No	663
Date of Notice	5 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Victor Sutton	Williamina Williamson Gray
	💍 1922/5258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Lorry Driver
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	Life
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace, Wellington
Folio	4981
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. M. Holland, Congregational Independent

664

5 July 1922

Joseph George Hancock
Dorothy Mary Hall

Joseph George Hancock
Dorothy Mary Hall
💍 1922/5259

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

Life
12 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4982

Annie Dorothy Mary Hall, mother

5 July 1922

Registrar

No	664
Date of Notice	5 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph George Hancock	Dorothy Mary Hall
	💍 1922/5259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4982
Consent	Annie Dorothy Mary Hall, mother
Date of Certificate	5 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Registrar

665

5 July 1922

John Neil Reardon Rider
Mabel Shurza Graham

John Neil Reardon Rider
Mabel Thurza Graham
💍 1922/5260

Divorced, Decree absolute 12/6/1922
Divorced, Decree absolute 22/2/1922

Bootmaker

45
30

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4983

5 July 1922

Registrar

No	665
Date of Notice	5 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Neil Reardon Rider	Mabel Shurza Graham
BDM Match (97%)	John Neil Reardon Rider	Mabel Thurza Graham
	💍 1922/5260
Condition	Divorced, Decree absolute 12/6/1922	Divorced, Decree absolute 22/2/1922
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	45	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4983
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1922
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).