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 1946

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1922 Registrar J. H. Kitchoope

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

686

17 July 1922

Samuel Harding
Edith Lillian Baldwin

Samuel Harding
Edith Lillian Baldwin
💍 1922/5356

Bachelor
Spinster

Groundsman

39
30

Days Bay
Lower Hutt

12 years
3 years

Residence of Mrs. D. Bird, Haimi Avenue, Lower Hutt

5004

17 July 1922

Rev. J. McLaw, Presbyterian

No	686
Date of Notice	17 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Harding	Edith Lillian Baldwin
	💍 1922/5356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groundsman
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Days Bay	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. D. Bird, Haimi Avenue, Lower Hutt
Folio	5004
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McLaw, Presbyterian

687

17 July 1922

Walter Charles Read
Martha Ann Jane Miller

Walter Charles Read
Martha Ann Jane Miller
💍 1922/5357

Widower
Spinster

Builder

53
33

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
1 day

Residence of Mr. H. C. Read, 191 Daniel Street, Newtown

5005

17 July 1922

Rev. J. M. Thomson, Anglican/Presbyterian

No	687
Date of Notice	17 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Charles Read	Martha Ann Jane Miller
	💍 1922/5357
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	53	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	1 day
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. C. Read, 191 Daniel Street, Newtown
Folio	5005
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Thomson, Anglican/Presbyterian

688

17 July 1922

Noel Bunch Homes
Ethel Rosamond Kingsley

Noel Brinch Homes
Ethel Rosamond Kingsley
💍 1922/5358

Bachelor
Widow

Motor car Proprietor

21
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
6 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

5006

17 July 1922

Registrar

No	688
Date of Notice	17 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Noel Bunch Homes	Ethel Rosamond Kingsley
BDM Match (94%)	Noel Brinch Homes	Ethel Rosamond Kingsley
	💍 1922/5358
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Motor car Proprietor
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	5006
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Registrar

689

17 July 1922

William James Tonkin
Lois Body

William James Tonkin
Lois Cody
💍 1922/5359

Bachelor
Spinster

Cooper

30
28

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
8 years

Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

5007

17 July 1922

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	689
Date of Notice	17 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Tonkin	Lois Body
BDM Match (94%)	William James Tonkin	Lois Cody
	💍 1922/5359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cooper
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	5007
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

690

17 July 1922

Edward Albert Napier
Rona Darling Hinstanley

Edward Albert Napier
Rona Darling Winstanley
💍 1922/5360

Bachelor
Spinster

Stevedore

19
19

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
9 years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

5008

Thomas Parkes Napier (father), Annie Eliza Hinstanley (mother)

17 July 1922

Rev. J. Baird, Presbyterian

No	690
Date of Notice	17 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Albert Napier	Rona Darling Hinstanley
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Albert Napier	Rona Darling Winstanley
	💍 1922/5360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stevedore
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	5008
Consent	Thomas Parkes Napier (father), Annie Eliza Hinstanley (mother)
Date of Certificate	17 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Baird, Presbyterian

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).