Intentions to Marry, 1925 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840532, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 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.

1925e contains pages 1785-2176, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 2068

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar J. H. Ashcroft

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

776

17 August 1925

William Francis Albert Rathbone
Doris May Twomey

William Francis Albert Rathbone
Doris May Twomey
💍 1925/6021

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 13 August 1925

Grocer

29
26

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
3 months

Residence of Mr. G. Anderson 50 Riddiford Street, Wellington.

5970

17 August 1925

W.C. Nation, Spiritualist.

No	776
Date of Notice	17 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Albert Rathbone	Doris May Twomey
	💍 1925/6021
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 13 August 1925
Profession	Grocer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. Anderson 50 Riddiford Street, Wellington.
Folio	5970
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1925
Officiating Minister	W.C. Nation, Spiritualist.

777

17 August 1925

Philip Charlton
Eileen Mary Ellen Lambert

Philip Charlton
Eileen Mary Ellen Lambert
💍 1925/6022

Bachelor
Spinster

Automobile Engineer

25
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
Life

St. Mark's Church, Wellington.

5971

17 August 1925

H.E.K. Fry, Anglican

No	777
Date of Notice	17 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Charlton	Eileen Mary Ellen Lambert
	💍 1925/6022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Automobile Engineer
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington.
Folio	5971
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1925
Officiating Minister	H.E.K. Fry, Anglican

778

17 August 1925

Broughton Fox Colclough
Mary Ann Baddiley

Broughton Fox Colclough
Mary Ann Baddiley
💍 1925/6067

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

33
24

Wallaceville
Hastings

3 months
11 years

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings.

5992

17 August 1925

J.E. Draper, Anglican

No	778
Date of Notice	17 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Broughton Fox Colclough	Mary Ann Baddiley
	💍 1925/6067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Wallaceville	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 months	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings.
Folio	5992
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1925
Officiating Minister	J.E. Draper, Anglican

779

17 August 1925

Ellis Richard Thomas
Delia O'Connor

Ellis Richard Thomas
Delia O'Connor
💍 1925/6023

Divorced Decree Absolute 12 August 1925
Spinster

Hairdresser

31
29

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington.

5972

17 August 1925

Registrar

No	779
Date of Notice	17 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ellis Richard Thomas	Delia O'Connor
	💍 1925/6023
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 12 August 1925	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington.
Folio	5972
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

780

18 August 1925

Arthur Vaint Mitchell
Ella Gertrude Polkinghorne

Arthur Vaint Mitchell
Ella Gertrude Polkinghorne
💍 1925/6024

Divorced Decree Absolute 10 October 1924
Spinster

Stevedore

55
27

Wellington
Wellington

Life
2 years

Wesley Church Taranaki Street, Wellington.

5973

18 August 1925

C. Eaton, Methodist

No	780
Date of Notice	18 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Vaint Mitchell	Ella Gertrude Polkinghorne
	💍 1925/6024
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 10 October 1924	Spinster
Profession	Stevedore
Age	55	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church Taranaki Street, Wellington.
Folio	5973
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1925
Officiating Minister	C. Eaton, Methodist

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).