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 1103

District of Waipawa Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar A. 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

03 July 1918

George Eric Taylor
Kate Josephine Tiffen

George Eric Taylor
Kate Josephine Tiffen
💍 1918/4734

Bachelor
Divorced

Telephone Exchange attendant
Domestic

34
31

Waipawa
Hastings

2 months
1 week

Office of the Registrar, Hastings

4306

03 July 1918

Registrar, Hastings

No	13
Date of Notice	03 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Eric Taylor	Kate Josephine Tiffen
	💍 1918/4734
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Telephone Exchange attendant	Domestic
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 months	1 week
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Hastings
Folio	4306
Consent
Date of Certificate	03 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Hastings

15 July 1918

Richard Augustine McGreevy
Kitty O'Connor

Richard Augustine McGreevy
Kitty O'Connor
💍 1918/4819

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

38
23

Waipawa
Waipawa

38 years
4 years

St Patricks Church, Waipawa

4365

15 July 1918

Rev J. J. Cahill, Roman Catholic, Waipawa

No	14
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Augustine McGreevy	Kitty O'Connor
	💍 1918/4819
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	38	23
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	38 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Church, Waipawa
Folio	4365
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. J. Cahill, Roman Catholic, Waipawa

15 July 1918

Harold Norman Cave
Elsie Olive Winters

Harold Norman Cave
Elsie Olive Winters
💍 1918/4820

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
22

Pukehou
Pukehou

2 months
21 years

Residence of S. G. Winters, Pukehou

4366

15 July 1918

Rev F. W. Robertson, Presbyterian, Waipawa

No	15
Date of Notice	15 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Norman Cave	Elsie Olive Winters
	💍 1918/4820
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Pukehou	Pukehou
Length of Residence	2 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of S. G. Winters, Pukehou
Folio	4366
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F. W. Robertson, Presbyterian, Waipawa

16 July 1918

Lionel Edwards George Thompson
Catherine Mawson

Lionel Edward George Thompson
Catherine Mawson
💍 1918/3475

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

22
20

Waipawa
Waipawa

1 day
6 months

St Peters Church, Waipawa

4058

Catherine Mawson (mother)

16 July 1918

Rev Mr Butterfield, Church of England, Waipawa

No	16
Date of Notice	16 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Edwards George Thompson	Catherine Mawson
BDM Match (98%)	Lionel Edward George Thompson	Catherine Mawson
	💍 1918/3475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	1 day	6 months
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Waipawa
Folio	4058
Consent	Catherine Mawson (mother)
Date of Certificate	16 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Mr Butterfield, Church of England, Waipawa

20 August 1918

Harold Faithorne Worthington
Kathleen Winifred Mitchell

Harold Fairthorne Worthington
Kathleen Winifred Mitchell
💍 1918/5245

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Nurse

32
27

Waipawa
Waipawa

2 weeks
27 years

Church of England, Waipawa

4359

20 August 1918

Rev Mr Butterfield, Church of England, Waipawa

No	17
Date of Notice	20 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Faithorne Worthington	Kathleen Winifred Mitchell
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Fairthorne Worthington	Kathleen Winifred Mitchell
	💍 1918/5245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Nurse
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	2 weeks	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Waipawa
Folio	4359
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev Mr Butterfield, Church of England, Waipawa

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).