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 2053

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar J. H. Rathbone

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

896

4 October 1923

Bertie Smith
Bergljotte Janet Malena Gibbs

Bertie Smith
Bergljotte Janet Malena Gibbs
💍 1923/5065

Divorced Decree absolute 13.9.1923
Divorced Decree absolute 27.7.1920

Grocer

38
32

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
6 years

Registrar's Office

8015

4 October 1923

Registrar

No	896
Date of Notice	4 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Smith	Bergljotte Janet Malena Gibbs
	💍 1923/5065
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 13.9.1923	Divorced Decree absolute 27.7.1920
Profession	Grocer
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	8015
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

897

4 October 1923

Albert Claude Edwards
Edna Augusta Conradine Gillman

Albert Claude Edwards
Edna Augusta Conradine Gillman
💍 1923/5066

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
29

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
14 years

Residence of Mr. Gillman, 54 Epuni Street, Wellington

8016

4 October 1923

Rev. J. D. Martin, Methodist

No	897
Date of Notice	4 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Claude Edwards	Edna Augusta Conradine Gillman
	💍 1923/5066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Gillman, 54 Epuni Street, Wellington
Folio	8016
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Martin, Methodist

898

4 October 1923

Leslie James Batchelor
Elsie Eveleen Moulder

Leslie James Batchelor
Elsie Eveleen Moulder
💍 1923/5067

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

36
21

Wellington
Wallaceville

5 years
5 years

Registrar's Office

8017

4 October 1923

Registrar

No	898
Date of Notice	4 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie James Batchelor	Elsie Eveleen Moulder
	💍 1923/5067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wallaceville
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	8017
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

899

4 October 1923

Charles David Maurice Upton
Helen Maud Bland

Charles David Maurice Upton
Helen Maud Bland
💍 1923/5068

Widower 2.6.1921
Spinster

Builder

45
34

Lower Hutt
Wellington

23 years
15 years

St Cuthberts Church, Berhampore

8018

4 October 1923

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	899
Date of Notice	4 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles David Maurice Upton	Helen Maud Bland
	💍 1923/5068
Condition	Widower 2.6.1921	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	45	34
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St Cuthberts Church, Berhampore
Folio	8018
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

900

5 October 1923

Joseph Marie Morrison
Elsie Ada Cuthbertson

Joseph Marie Morrison
Elsie Ada Cuthbertson
💍 1923/5069

Bachelor
Widow 20.3.1916

Storeman

45
40

Wellington
Wellington

2 days
4 years

St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

8019

5 October 1923

Rev. M. A. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	900
Date of Notice	5 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Marie Morrison	Elsie Ada Cuthbertson
	💍 1923/5069
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 20.3.1916
Profession	Storeman
Age	45	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 days	4 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	8019
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. Murphy, Roman Catholic

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).