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 2105

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1924 Registrar H. R. Kelsorpe

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

1096

9 December 1924

Robert Francisco Scorringe
Ethel Ruby Rutter

Robert Francisco Scorringe
Ethel Ruby Rutter
💍 1924/6464

Bachelor
Widow

Fireman

38
35

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
6 months

St Peter's Church, Wellington

8524

9 December 1924

J. F. Taylor, Anglican

No	1096
Date of Notice	9 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Francisco Scorringe	Ethel Ruby Rutter
	💍 1924/6464
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Fireman
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	6 months
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	8524
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1924
Officiating Minister	J. F. Taylor, Anglican

1097

9 December 1924

David John Burt
Lela Chester

David John Burt
Lela Chester
💍 1924/6465

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

26
20

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
6 weeks

St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

8525

Maud Anne Chester, mother

9 December 1924

V. A. Bianchi, Anglican

No	1097
Date of Notice	9 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David John Burt	Lela Chester
	💍 1924/6465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	8525
Consent	Maud Anne Chester, mother
Date of Certificate	9 December 1924
Officiating Minister	V. A. Bianchi, Anglican

1098

9 December 1924

Martin Nathaniel Salmon
Faith Perrin

Martin Nathaniel Salmon
Faith Perrin
💍 1924/6473

Bachelor
Spinster

Cinema Operator

37
36

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
10 years

Residence of Rev. H. E. Edridge, 9 Dee Street, Island Bay

8526

9 December 1924

H. E. Edridge, Baptist

No	1098
Date of Notice	9 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Nathaniel Salmon	Faith Perrin
	💍 1924/6473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cinema Operator
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. H. E. Edridge, 9 Dee Street, Island Bay
Folio	8526
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1924
Officiating Minister	H. E. Edridge, Baptist

1099

9 December 1924

Garlie Bitossi
Ruby Aileen Butler

Garlie Bitossi
Ruby Aileen Butler
💍 1924/6484

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 30/10/1924)

Compositor

33
32

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

8527

9 December 1924

Deputy Registrar

No	1099
Date of Notice	9 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Garlie Bitossi	Ruby Aileen Butler
	💍 1924/6484
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 30/10/1924)
Profession	Compositor
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	8527
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1924
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

1100

9 December 1924

Montague William Percy Lascelles
Ethel Rona Carter

Montague Williams Percy Lascelles
Ethel Bona Carter
💍 1924/3228

Widower
Widow

Baptist Minister

61
33

Wellington
Palmerston North

20 months
3 days

Residence of Mrs. C. Hocking, 9 Marne Street, Palmerston North

10278

9 December 1924

C. W. Duncumb, Baptist

No	1100
Date of Notice	9 December 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Montague William Percy Lascelles	Ethel Rona Carter
BDM Match (96%)	Montague Williams Percy Lascelles	Ethel Bona Carter
	💍 1924/3228
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Baptist Minister
Age	61	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	20 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. C. Hocking, 9 Marne Street, Palmerston North
Folio	10278
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1924
Officiating Minister	C. W. Duncumb, Baptist

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).