Intentions to Marry, 1924 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840524, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924e contains pages 1759-2128, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 1887

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar J. H. 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

14 January 1924

Sinclair Whynn Hodgson
Dorothy Vera Chappell

Sinclair Whynn Hodgson
Dorothy Vera Chappell
💍 1924/112

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

19
20

Wellington
Wellington

1 1/2 years
19 years

All Saints Church, Kilbirnie

221

James Hodgson (Father), Arthur Barnard Chappell (Father)

14 January 1924

W. J. Drake, Anglican

No	31
Date of Notice	14 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sinclair Whynn Hodgson	Dorothy Vera Chappell
	💍 1924/112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Kilbirnie
Folio	221
Consent	James Hodgson (Father), Arthur Barnard Chappell (Father)
Date of Certificate	14 January 1924
Officiating Minister	W. J. Drake, Anglican

14 January 1924

Edward Asher
Jorine Amelia Frew

Edward Asher
Iwrene Amelia Frew
💍 1924/113

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman

21
26

Petone
Lower Hutt

1 year
1 month

St. David's Church, Petone

222

14 January 1924

J. A. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	14 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Asher	Jorine Amelia Frew
BDM Match (92%)	Edward Asher	Iwrene Amelia Frew
	💍 1924/113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Petone	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	1 year	1 month
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Petone
Folio	222
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1924
Officiating Minister	J. A. McKenzie, Presbyterian

15 January 1924

Magnus Burns Clark
Williamina Sutherland Bowie

Magnus Burns Clark
Welliamina Sutherland Cowie
💍 1924/7970

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

30
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace

223

15 January 1924

W. M. Holland, Congregational

No	33
Date of Notice	15 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Magnus Burns Clark	Williamina Sutherland Bowie
BDM Match (96%)	Magnus Burns Clark	Welliamina Sutherland Cowie
	💍 1924/7970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace
Folio	223
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1924
Officiating Minister	W. M. Holland, Congregational

15 January 1924

Percy Lowe
Hester Muriel Goodwin

Percy Lowe
Hester Muriel Goodwin
💍 1924/7981

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 days

St. Peter's Church

224

15 January 1924

H. Watson, Anglican

No	34
Date of Notice	15 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Lowe	Hester Muriel Goodwin
	💍 1924/7981
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	224
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1924
Officiating Minister	H. Watson, Anglican

16 January 1924

Hubert Walter Simmonds
Rachel Sophie Withy

Hubert Walter Simmonds
Rachel Sophie Withy
💍 1924/7987

Bachelor
Spinster

Government Entomologist

46
26

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
13 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral

225

16 January 1924

A. M. Johnson, Anglican

No	35
Date of Notice	16 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Walter Simmonds	Rachel Sophie Withy
	💍 1924/7987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Government Entomologist
Age	46	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral
Folio	225
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1924
Officiating Minister	A. M. Johnson, Anglican

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).