Intentions to Marry, 1918 Aria to Hunterville

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840477, 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.

1918c contains pages 865-1248, covering districts from Aria to Hunterville

Page 957

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar J. James

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

4 January 1918

William Henry Parish
Violet Mary Howard

William Henry Parish
Violet Mary Howard
💍 1918/540

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

21
23

Stratford
Stratford

16 days
4 months

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Stratford

1024

4 January 1918

Rev. G. F. Maples B.A., Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Parish	Violet Mary Howard
	💍 1918/540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	16 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Stratford
Folio	1024
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Maples B.A., Roman Catholic

17 January 1918

John McDonald
Emma Jane Harrison

John McDonald
Emma Jane Harrison
💍 1918/1245

Widower (20/12/1908)
Spinster

Night Watchman
Domestic

66
49

Ngaere
Ngaere

6 weeks
3 weeks

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Stratford

1025

17 January 1918

Registrar of Marriages, Stratford

No	2
Date of Notice	17 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McDonald	Emma Jane Harrison
	💍 1918/1245
Condition	Widower (20/12/1908)	Spinster
Profession	Night Watchman	Domestic
Age	66	49
Dwelling Place	Ngaere	Ngaere
Length of Residence	6 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Stratford
Folio	1025
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Stratford

13 February 1918

Charles Edward Lawrence
Doris Frances Davis

Charles Edward Lawrence
Doris Frances Davis
💍 1918/1256

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Saleswoman

21
23

Mangatotara
Stratford

21 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar at Stratford

1026

13 February 1918

Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Lawrence	Doris Frances Davis
	💍 1918/1256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Saleswoman
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Mangatotara	Stratford
Length of Residence	21 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	1026
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar

23 March 1918

John Battershell Westlake
Elizabeth Esther Dillon

John Battershell Westlake
Elizabeth Esther Dillon
💍 1918/1263

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

57
49

Dannevirke
Stratford

40 years
5 months

Methodist Parsonage, Midhirst

1027

23 March 1918

G. H. Bridgman, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	23 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Battershell Westlake	Elizabeth Esther Dillon
	💍 1918/1263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	57	49
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Stratford
Length of Residence	40 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Midhirst
Folio	1027
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1918
Officiating Minister	G. H. Bridgman, Methodist

25 March 1918

Ernest Phillip Aldridge
Bella Park Paul

Ernest Phillip Aldridge
Bella Park Paul
💍 1918/1264

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

20
18

Stratford
Stratford

20 years
10 years

Residence of J. Paul, Pembroke road, Stratford

1028

R. P. Aldridge, father; John Paul, father

26 March 1918

J. Dawson C. Madill, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Phillip Aldridge	Bella Park Paul
	💍 1918/1264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Paul, Pembroke road, Stratford
Folio	1028
Consent	R. P. Aldridge, father; John Paul, father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1918
Officiating Minister	J. Dawson C. Madill, 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).

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).