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 2000

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1922 Registrar H. E. 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

948

19 October 1922

John Lileburn Cook
Caroline Emily Donald

John Lileburn Cook
Caroline Emily Donald
💍 1922/6182

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer

42
44

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
3 years

Residence of Mrs. Ledringham, 131 Ghuznee Street, Wellington

7601

19 October 1922

Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	948
Date of Notice	19 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lileburn Cook	Caroline Emily Donald
	💍 1922/6182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	42	44
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Ledringham, 131 Ghuznee Street, Wellington
Folio	7601
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer, Presbyterian

949

20 October 1922

Ernest Dudley Gothorp
Myrtle Phyllis Rogers

Ernest Dudley Gothorp
Myrtle Phyllis Rogers
💍 1922/6193

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter

49
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7602

20 October 1922

Registrar

No	949
Date of Notice	20 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Dudley Gothorp	Myrtle Phyllis Rogers
	💍 1922/6193
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	49	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7602
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Registrar

950

20 October 1922

Humphrey Barr Kerr-Hislop
Hazel Pearson

Humphrey Barr Kerr-Hislop
Hazel Marjorie Pearson
💍 1922/9412

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

25
23

Petone
Petone

3 years
2 months

St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

8084

20 October 1922

Rev. G. Y. Woodward, Anglican

No	950
Date of Notice	20 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Humphrey Barr Kerr-Hislop	Hazel Pearson
BDM Match (80%)	Humphrey Barr Kerr-Hislop	Hazel Marjorie Pearson
	💍 1922/9412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	8084
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward, Anglican

951

20 October 1922

Robert Henry Richards
May Margaret Dromgool

Robert Henry Richards
May Margaret Dromgool
💍 1922/6200

Bachelor
Widow

Warehouseman

47
35

Wellington
Wellington

17 years
3 years

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

7603

20 October 1922

Rev. P. Fay, Roman Catholic

No	951
Date of Notice	20 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Richards	May Margaret Dromgool
	💍 1922/6200
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	47	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	7603
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Fay, Roman Catholic

952

20 October 1922

John Laidlaw Walling
Bridget Catherine Dwyer

John Laidlaw Walling
Bridget Catherine Dwyer
💍 1922/7268

Widower
Spinster

Clerk

52
32

Rona Bay
Wellington

1 year
1 year

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

9514

20 October 1922

Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

No	952
Date of Notice	20 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Laidlaw Walling	Bridget Catherine Dwyer
	💍 1922/7268
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	52	32
Dwelling Place	Rona Bay	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	9514
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth, Roman Catholic

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).