Intentions to Marry, 1926 Pongaroa to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840540, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 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.

1926e contains pages 1807-2222, covering districts from Pongaroa to Wellington

Page 2001

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar F. K. 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

345

25 March 1926

John Mowbray Bruce
Agnes Ethelwyne Taylor

John Mowbray Bruce
Agnes Ethelwyne Taylor
💍 1926/2652

Widower (27 April 1925)
Spinster

Cycle Agent

45
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
6 weeks

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

1065

25 March 1926

J. Baird, Presbyterian

No	345
Date of Notice	25 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mowbray Bruce	Agnes Ethelwyne Taylor
	💍 1926/2652
Condition	Widower (27 April 1925)	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Agent
Age	45	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	1065
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1926
Officiating Minister	J. Baird, Presbyterian

346

25 March 1926

Leonard Osborne Atkinson
Doris Marguerite Bennett

Leonard Osborne Atkinson
Doris Marguerite Bennett
💍 1926/2653

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

26
25

Wellington
Lower Hutt

Life
8 years

St. James Church, Lower Hutt

1066

25 March 1926

J. E. Blackburne, Anglican

No	346
Date of Notice	25 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Osborne Atkinson	Doris Marguerite Bennett
	💍 1926/2653
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	Life	8 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	1066
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1926
Officiating Minister	J. E. Blackburne, Anglican

347

25 March 1926

George Henry Cochrane
Lily Ann Houldey

George Henry Cochrane
Lily Ann Houldey
💍 1926/2654

Divorced (Decree Absolute 24/3/1926)
Widow (4/5/1921)

Carter

54
38

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
Life

Residence of Bridegroom, 15 Trent St., Island Bay

1067

25 March 1926

W. Shirer, Presbyterian

No	347
Date of Notice	25 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Cochrane	Lily Ann Houldey
	💍 1926/2654
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 24/3/1926)	Widow (4/5/1921)
Profession	Carter
Age	54	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom, 15 Trent St., Island Bay
Folio	1067
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1926
Officiating Minister	W. Shirer, Presbyterian

348

26 March 1926

Leslie Richard Smith
Vinola Harriett Daphne Edwards

Leslie Richard Smith
Vinola Harriett Daphne Edwards
💍 1926/2655

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree Absolute 19 February 1926)

Moulder

30
27

Petone
Petone

4 years
Life

Wesley Church, Nelson Street, Petone

1068

25 March 1926

J. A. Lochore, Methodist

No	348
Date of Notice	26 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Richard Smith	Vinola Harriett Daphne Edwards
	💍 1926/2655
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree Absolute 19 February 1926)
Profession	Moulder
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Nelson Street, Petone
Folio	1068
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1926
Officiating Minister	J. A. Lochore, Methodist

349

26 March 1926

George William Wheeler
Lillian Perla Ross

George William Wheeler
Lillian Perla Ross
💍 1926/2656

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

28
28

Petone
Wellington

2 months
1 month

St. David's Church, Petone

1069

26 March 1926

J. C. Loan, Presbyterian

No	349
Date of Notice	26 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Wheeler	Lillian Perla Ross
	💍 1926/2656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	1 month
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Petone
Folio	1069
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1926
Officiating Minister	J. C. Loan, 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).