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 1056

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

115

11 December 1918

John Douglas Scott
Margaret Tonkin

John Douglas Scott
Margaret Tonkin
💍 1918/1680

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Manager
Domestic Duties

40
26

Napier
Napier

6 months
26 years

St. Johns Cathedral, Napier

5813

11 December 1918

Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	115
Date of Notice	11 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Douglas Scott	Margaret Tonkin
	💍 1918/1680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Cathedral, Napier
Folio	5813
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

116

14 December 1918

George John Jones
Margaret McCarthy

George John Jones
Margaret McCarthy
💍 1918/1681

Divorced 28th Nov. 1918
Spinster

Horse Trainer
Clerk

33
24

Greenmeadows
Napier

3 years
24 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

5814

14 December 1918

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	116
Date of Notice	14 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John Jones	Margaret McCarthy
	💍 1918/1681
Condition	Divorced 28th Nov. 1918	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer	Clerk
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	5814
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

117

17 December 1918

Arthur Ernest Harrison
Alice Jackson

Arthur Ernest Harrison
Alice Jackson
💍 1918/1682

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
26

Clive
Clive

26 years
26 years

St. Johns Cathedral, Napier

5815

17 December 1918

Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	117
Date of Notice	17 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Harrison	Alice Jackson
	💍 1918/1682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Cathedral, Napier
Folio	5815
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne, Church of England

118

19 December 1918

Thomas Gavan O'Sullivan
Dorothea Ethel Hamilton

Thomas Gavan O'Sullivan
Dorothea Ethel Hamilton
💍 1918/1683

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Domestic

29
22

Napier
Napier

18 months
7 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

5816

19 December 1918

Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	118
Date of Notice	19 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gavan O'Sullivan	Dorothea Ethel Hamilton
	💍 1918/1683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	18 months	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	5816
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dowling, Roman Catholic

119

21 December 1918

Reginald Henry Ritter
Lucy Anne Jane Breighton

Reginald Henry Ritter
Lucy Anne Jane Creighton
💍 1918/1684

Bachelor
Spinster

Scutcher
Book Keeper

35
27

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Napier

5817

21 December 1918

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	119
Date of Notice	21 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Henry Ritter	Lucy Anne Jane Breighton
BDM Match (98%)	Reginald Henry Ritter	Lucy Anne Jane Creighton
	💍 1918/1684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Scutcher	Book Keeper
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	5817
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

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).