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 1942

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

666

6 July 1922

Francis Fox
Alice Harlen

Francis Fox
Alice Harlen
💍 1922/5261

Bachelor
Widow

Engineer

32
31

Petone
Petone

5 years
3 months

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Patterson Street, Wellington

1984

6 July 1922

Rev. A. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	666
Date of Notice	6 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Fox	Alice Harlen
	💍 1922/5261
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Engineer
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	5 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Patterson Street, Wellington
Folio	1984
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

667

6 July 1922

Noel Henry Mather
Eileen Mary Mathers

Noel Henry Mather
Eileen Mary Mathers
💍 1922/5238

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

25
22

Eastbourne
Eastbourne

4 years
1 year

Residence of Mr. F. H. Mather, Marine Parade, Eastbourne

4985

6 July 1922

Rev. W. S. Rollings, Baptist

No	667
Date of Notice	6 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Noel Henry Mather	Eileen Mary Mathers
	💍 1922/5238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Eastbourne	Eastbourne
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. F. H. Mather, Marine Parade, Eastbourne
Folio	4985
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Rollings, Baptist

668

6 July 1922

Richard Lawrence Townsend
Mary Emlyn Jenkins

Richard Lawrence Townsend
Mary Embyn Jenkins
💍 1922/5239

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Supervisor

43
31

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
5 years

St. Thomas' Church, Wellington South

4986

6 July 1922

Rev. W. Fancourt, Anglican

No	668
Date of Notice	6 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Lawrence Townsend	Mary Emlyn Jenkins
BDM Match (97%)	Richard Lawrence Townsend	Mary Embyn Jenkins
	💍 1922/5239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Supervisor
Age	43	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Wellington South
Folio	4986
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt, Anglican

669

6 July 1922

Reginald John Buchanan
Ida Alice Kirton

Reginald John Buchanan
Ida Alice Kirton
💍 1922/5240

Bachelor
Spinster

Headlight Designer

25
25

Wellington
Wellington

Life
18 months

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

4987

7 July 1922

Rev. W. Watson, Anglican

No	669
Date of Notice	6 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald John Buchanan	Ida Alice Kirton
	💍 1922/5240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Headlight Designer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	4987
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Watson, Anglican

670

8 July 1922

David James Constable
Mayde Melba Ball

David James Constable
Maude Melba Ball
💍 1922/5241

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

34
26

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
5 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4988

8 July 1922

Registrar

No	670
Date of Notice	8 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David James Constable	Mayde Melba Ball
BDM Match (97%)	David James Constable	Maude Melba Ball
	💍 1922/5241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4988
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).