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 1037

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

9 May 1918

Walter Henry Hume
Emma Matilda Coates

Walter Henry Hume
Emma Matilda Coates
💍 1918/3074

Bachelor
Divorced 9 August 1907

Linesman
Domestic Duties

32
35

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Napier

2691

9 May 1918

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	9 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry Hume	Emma Matilda Coates
	💍 1918/3074
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 9 August 1907
Profession	Linesman	Domestic Duties
Age	32	35
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	2691
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

14 May 1918

Esmond Neilson Syme
Irene Gwendoline Winifred Exeter

Esmond Neilson Syme
Irene Gwendoline Winifred Exeter
💍 1918/3075

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor
Domestic Duties

24
17

Napier
Napier

4 years
17 years

Residence of Thomas J. Exeter, Enfield Road, Napier

2692

Thomas John Exeter, Father

14 May 1918

Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

No	35
Date of Notice	14 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Esmond Neilson Syme	Irene Gwendoline Winifred Exeter
	💍 1918/3075
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor	Domestic Duties
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas J. Exeter, Enfield Road, Napier
Folio	2692
Consent	Thomas John Exeter, Father
Date of Certificate	14 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hodge, Congregational

14 May 1918

Norman Charles Pocock
Ellen Bridget Hickey

Norman Charles Pocock
Ellen Bridget Hickey
💍 1918/3076

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Employee
Domestic Duties

25
25

Napier
Napier

2 years
3 years

St. Patrick's Church Napier

2693

14 May 1918

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	36
Date of Notice	14 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Charles Pocock	Ellen Bridget Hickey
	💍 1918/3076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	2693
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

14 May 1918

Wilfred Higham
Kathleen Elizabeth McGlashan

Wilfred Higham
Kathleen Elizabeth McGlashan
💍 1918/3077

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic Duties

29
20

Greenmeadows
Greenmeadows

4 days
5 weeks

Residence of A. S. McGlashan, Greenmeadows

2694

Alexander Sangster McGlashan, Father

14 May 1918

Rev. C. Connor, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	14 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Higham	Kathleen Elizabeth McGlashan
	💍 1918/3077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Greenmeadows
Length of Residence	4 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of A. S. McGlashan, Greenmeadows
Folio	2694
Consent	Alexander Sangster McGlashan, Father
Date of Certificate	14 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Connor, Presbyterian

20 May 1918

Peter Martin
Violet Amelia Martin

Peter Martin
Violet Amelia Martin
💍 1918/3078

Bachelor
Widow 14 May 1916

Gardener
Domestic Duties

23
25

Napier
Napier

9 months
1 year 10 months

St. Paul's Church Napier

2695

20 May 1918

Rev. J. H. Boyd, Presbyterian

No	38
Date of Notice	20 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Martin	Violet Amelia Martin
	💍 1918/3078
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 14 May 1916
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	9 months	1 year 10 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Napier
Folio	2695
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Boyd, 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).