Intentions to Marry, 1918 Albertland to Kohukohu

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840475, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1918a contains pages 1-432, covering districts from Albertland to Kohukohu

Page 031

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar A. Watson

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

111

13 February 1918

Gordon Edgar Lacey
Sybil Margaret Sperk

Gordon Edgar Stacey
Sybil Margaret Speak
💍 1918/973

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer

31
22

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
4 weeks

Residence of Bride's Parents, 5 Pollen St, Grey Lynn

436

13 February 1918

Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	111
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Edgar Lacey	Sybil Margaret Sperk
BDM Match (92%)	Gordon Edgar Stacey	Sybil Margaret Speak
	💍 1918/973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Parents, 5 Pollen St, Grey Lynn
Folio	436
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

112

13 February 1918

Reginald Noble Bradley
Grace Dawson

Reginald Noble Bradley
Grace Dawson
💍 1918/974

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware Salesman

25
34

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
6 years

House of Bride's Parents, Sandringham

437

13 February 1918

Mr. H. L. Thatcher, Open Brethren

No	112
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Noble Bradley	Grace Dawson
	💍 1918/974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Salesman
Age	25	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	House of Bride's Parents, Sandringham
Folio	437
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr. H. L. Thatcher, Open Brethren

113

13 February 1918

Henry Bricknell William
Dorothy Annie Watkins

Henry Bricknell Williams
Dorothy Annie Wilkins
💍 1918/975

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
21

Auckland
Auckland

9 months
18 years

St Matthew's Church, Auckland

438

13 February 1918

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Anglican

No	113
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Bricknell William	Dorothy Annie Watkins
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Bricknell Williams	Dorothy Annie Wilkins
	💍 1918/975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 months	18 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	438
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Anglican

114

13 February 1918

James Walmesley Waterhouse
Matilda Louisa Gonsalves

James Walmsley Waterhouse
Matilda Louisa Gonsalves
💍 1918/976

Bachelor
Widow, 14 June 1907

Waterside worker

49
46

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
18 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

439

13 February 1918

Registrar

No	114
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Walmesley Waterhouse	Matilda Louisa Gonsalves
BDM Match (98%)	James Walmsley Waterhouse	Matilda Louisa Gonsalves
	💍 1918/976
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, 14 June 1907
Profession	Waterside worker
Age	49	46
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	439
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

115

13 February 1918

David Washington Nicholas
Muriel Esther Paul

David Washington Nicholas
Muriel Sophy Dane
💍 1918/977

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine officer

29
22

Auckland
Auckland

2 weeks
2 years

St Mark's Church, Remuera

440

13 February 1918

Rev. W. Beatty, Anglican

No	115
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Washington Nicholas	Muriel Esther Paul
BDM Match (78%)	David Washington Nicholas	Muriel Sophy Dane
	💍 1918/977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine officer
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church, Remuera
Folio	440
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, 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).