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 1055

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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

110

26 November 1918

Bert John George Winter
Ellen Mary Lenihan

Bert John George Winter
Ellen Mary Lenihan
💍 1918/6179

Bachelor
Spinster

Bar Tender
Housemaid

33
31

Napier
Napier

5 days
12 days

St. Patrick's Church Napier

5832

26 November 1918

Rev. Father Symons Roman Catholic

No	110
Date of Notice	26 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bert John George Winter	Ellen Mary Lenihan
	💍 1918/6179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bar Tender	Housemaid
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	12 days
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	5832
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Symons Roman Catholic

111

27 November 1918

Ernest Albert Bolton
Violet Isabella Elliott

Ernest Albert Calton
Violet Isabella Elliott
💍 1918/1733

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

27
28

Napier
Napier

3 days
28 years

St. John's Cathedral Napier

6220

27 November 1918

Rev. Dean Mayne Church of England

No	111
Date of Notice	27 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Albert Bolton	Violet Isabella Elliott
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Albert Calton	Violet Isabella Elliott
	💍 1918/1733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	6220
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne Church of England

112

29 November 1918

William Ernest Middleditch
Norah Sullivan

William Ernest Middleditch
Norah Sullivan
💍 1918/1677

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

34
35

Napier
Napier

1 month
1 month

St. Patrick's Church Napier

5810

29 November 1918

Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

No	112
Date of Notice	29 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Middleditch	Norah Sullivan
	💍 1918/1677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	5810
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling Roman Catholic

113

02 December 1918

Cecil William Turner
Edith Elizabeth Bradshaw

Cecil William Turner
Edith Elizabeth Bradshaw
💍 1918/1678

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager Dairy Factory
Dressmaker

24
27

Taradale
Napier

3 years
27 years

Congregational Church Napier

5811

02 December 1918

Rev. Alfred Hodge Congregational

No	113
Date of Notice	02 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil William Turner	Edith Elizabeth Bradshaw
	💍 1918/1678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager Dairy Factory	Dressmaker
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Napier
Folio	5811
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Hodge Congregational

114

10 December 1918

Lewis Mervyn Fairbrother
Nellie Elizabeth Dine

Lewis Mervyn Fairbrother
Nellie Elizabeth Dine
💍 1918/1679

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Draper's Assistant

25
22

Napier
Napier

2 months
22 years

St. Augustine's Church Napier

5812

10 December 1918

Rev. Dean Mayne Church of England

No	114
Date of Notice	10 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Mervyn Fairbrother	Nellie Elizabeth Dine
	💍 1918/1679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Draper's Assistant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 months	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	5812
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne Church of England

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).