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 2060

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1925 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

736

3 August 1925

Peter John McIlvride
Ivy Beda Willard

Peter John McIlvride
Ivy Beda Willard
💍 1925/6005

Divorced Decree Absolute 18/12/1920
Spinster

Electrician

52
31

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

2 weeks
2 weeks

Residence of Mr. C. Aldous 53 Thompson Street, Wellington.

5931

3 August 1925

J. Baird, Presbyterian

No	736
Date of Notice	3 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter John McIlvride	Ivy Beda Willard
	💍 1925/6005
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 18/12/1920	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	52	31
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. Aldous 53 Thompson Street, Wellington.
Folio	5931
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Baird, Presbyterian

737

4 August 1925

John Duff Robertson
Vera Rose Buckland

John Duff Robertson
Vera Rose Buckland
💍 1925/6006

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
17 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington.

5932

Joseph Henry Buckland, Father of bride.

4 August 1925

Registrar.

No	737
Date of Notice	4 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Duff Robertson	Vera Rose Buckland
	💍 1925/6006
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington.
Folio	5932
Consent	Joseph Henry Buckland, Father of bride.
Date of Certificate	4 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar.

738

4 August 1925

Douglas Percival Power
Kathleen Gregory

Douglas Percival Power
Kathleen Gregory
💍 1925/6007

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer

31
24

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
3 years

St. Mark's Church, Wellington.

5933

4 August 1925

F.E. Fleury, Anglican

No	738
Date of Notice	4 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Percival Power	Kathleen Gregory
	💍 1925/6007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington.
Folio	5933
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1925
Officiating Minister	F.E. Fleury, Anglican

739

4 August 1925

Reginald Frederick Jollands
Grace Gladys Matilda Ann Lee

Reginald Frederick Jollands
Grace Gladys Matilda Ann Lee
💍 1925/6008

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
24

Petone
Lower Hutt

8 years
24 years

St. James' Church, Lower Hutt.

5934

4 August 1925

A.L. Hansell, Anglican

No	739
Date of Notice	4 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Frederick Jollands	Grace Gladys Matilda Ann Lee
	💍 1925/6008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Petone	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	8 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, Lower Hutt.
Folio	5934
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1925
Officiating Minister	A.L. Hansell, Anglican

740

4 August 1925

Robert McMurray
Irene Effie Shackelford

Robert McMurray
Irene Effie Shackelford
💍 1925/5985

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 22 June, 1921.

Chimney Sweep

45
32

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
20 years

St. James' Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington.

5935

4 August 1925

W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	740
Date of Notice	4 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McMurray	Irene Effie Shackelford
	💍 1925/5985
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 22 June, 1921.
Profession	Chimney Sweep
Age	45	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington.
Folio	5935
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Shirer, Presbyterian

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).