Intentions to Marry, 1923 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840516, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923e contains pages 1745-2124, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 1913

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar H. P. Leechope

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

221

1 March 1923

Frederick Edward Outtrim
Ellen Margaret Murphy

Frederick Edward Outtrim
Ellen Margaret Murphy
💍 1923/704

Divorced decree absolute 15-3-1921
Widow 25-11-1918

Tally clerk

42
37

Wellington
Wellington

life
1 1/2 years

St. James' Church, Wellington South

829

1 March 1923

W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	221
Date of Notice	1 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Edward Outtrim	Ellen Margaret Murphy
	💍 1923/704
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 15-3-1921	Widow 25-11-1918
Profession	Tally clerk
Age	42	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	life	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, Wellington South
Folio	829
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1923
Officiating Minister	W. Shirer, Presbyterian

222

1 March 1923

Alexander Reade Robbins
Isabella Mackenzie

Alexander Reade Robbins
Isabella Mackenzie
💍 1923/705

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
27

Te Kuiti
Wellington

6 months
3 days

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

830

1 March 1923

A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	222
Date of Notice	1 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Reade Robbins	Isabella Mackenzie
	💍 1923/705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Te Kuiti	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	830
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1923
Officiating Minister	A. M. Johnson, Anglican

223

2 March 1923

George Leonard King
Phyllis Nicholson

George Leonard King
Phyllis Nicholson
💍 1923/706

Bachelor
Spinster

Pelt classer

36
17

Wellington
Kaiwarra

5 years
7 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

831

Victor Herbert Nicholson, Father

2 March 1923

Registrar

No	223
Date of Notice	2 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Leonard King	Phyllis Nicholson
	💍 1923/706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pelt classer
Age	36	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Kaiwarra
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	831
Consent	Victor Herbert Nicholson, Father
Date of Certificate	2 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

224

2 March 1923

Cyril Oswald Dunn
Eva Roberts

Cyril Oswald Dunn
Eva Roberts
💍 1923/707

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

28
27

Wellington
Residence of Mr. H. V. Roberts, 26 Apuka Street, Brooklyn, Wellington

3 years
23 years

Residence of Mr. H. V. Roberts, 26 Apuka Street, Brooklyn, Wellington

832

2 March 1923

D. Catchpole, Baptist

No	224
Date of Notice	2 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Oswald Dunn	Eva Roberts
	💍 1923/707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Residence of Mr. H. V. Roberts, 26 Apuka Street, Brooklyn, Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. V. Roberts, 26 Apuka Street, Brooklyn, Wellington
Folio	832
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1923
Officiating Minister	D. Catchpole, Baptist

225

2 March 1923

Arthur Thompson Hughes
Doris Evelyn Bodell

Arthur Thompson Hughes
Doris Evelyn Bodell
💍 1923/2870

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

29
22

Johnsonville
Island Bay, Wellington

3 years
14 years

St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay, Wellington

2592

2 March 1923

G. B. Blathwayt, Anglican

No	225
Date of Notice	2 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thompson Hughes	Doris Evelyn Bodell
	💍 1923/2870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Island Bay, Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Hilda's Church, Island Bay, Wellington
Folio	2592
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1923
Officiating Minister	G. B. Blathwayt, Anglican

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).