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 1031

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 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

12 February 1918

John Alexander Walker
Marjory Olive Stewart

John Alexander Walker
Marjory Olive Stewart
💍 1918/1316

Divorced 2nd Oct 1917
Spinster

Police Constable
Domestic Duties

32
20

Napier
Napier

3 years
18 months

Residence of Constable Revell, Station Street, Napier

1082

John Stewart, Father

12 February 1918

Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	12 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Walker	Marjory Olive Stewart
	💍 1918/1316
Condition	Divorced 2nd Oct 1917	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Domestic Duties
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Constable Revell, Station Street, Napier
Folio	1082
Consent	John Stewart, Father
Date of Certificate	12 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

14 February 1918

Charles Frederick Richardson
Ida Elizabeth Essex

Charles Frederick Richardson
Ida Elizabeth Essex
💍 1918/1317

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic Servant

29
21

Napier
Napier

3 years
21 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

1083

14 February 1918

Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	14 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Richardson	Ida Elizabeth Essex
	💍 1918/1317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic Servant
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	1083
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice, Church of England

25 February 1918

Samuel Nicholls
Eileen Downing

Samuel Nicholls
Eileen Downing
💍 1918/1271

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
17

Clive
Clive

30 years
17 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

1054

Jeremiah Downing, Father

25 February 1918

Rev. Father Mahony, Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	25 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Nicholls	Eileen Downing
	💍 1918/1271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	17
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	30 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	1054
Consent	Jeremiah Downing, Father
Date of Certificate	25 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Mahony, Roman Catholic

27 February 1918

Lawrence Prince
Mecede Minocheri

Lawrence Prince
Mercede Minocheri
💍 1918/1318

Bachelor
Spinster

Farrier
Waitress

20
23

Petane
Napier

6 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Napier

1084

William Henry Prince, Father

27 February 1918

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	27 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Prince	Mecede Minocheri
BDM Match (97%)	Lawrence Prince	Mercede Minocheri
	💍 1918/1318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farrier	Waitress
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Petane	Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Napier
Folio	1084
Consent	William Henry Prince, Father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

2 March 1918

George Henry Bross
Beatrice Long

George Henry Cross
Beatrice Long
💍 1918/1296

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

25
21

Clive
Clive

25 years
10 years

St. Patrick's Presbytery, Napier

1085

2 March 1918

Rev. P. H. Tysmons, Roman Catholic

No	15
Date of Notice	2 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Bross	Beatrice Long
BDM Match (97%)	George Henry Cross	Beatrice Long
	💍 1918/1296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	25 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Presbytery, Napier
Folio	1085
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. H. Tysmons, Roman Catholic

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).