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 1044

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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

24 July 1918

Edward Darroch
Henrietta Marion Mill

Edward Darroch
Henrietta Marion Mill
💍 1918/4809

Widower 30 May 1900
Spinster

Seaman
Waitress

43
26

Napier
Eskdale

3 days
3 weeks

Registrar's Office Napier

4331

24 July 1918

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	61
Date of Notice	24 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Darroch	Henrietta Marion Mill
	💍 1918/4809
Condition	Widower 30 May 1900	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Waitress
Age	43	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Eskdale
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	4331
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

25 July 1918

Charles Henry Dismore Faulkner
Margaret Todd

Charles Henry Dismore Faulknor
Margaret Codd
💍 1918/4810

Bachelor
Spinster

Building contractor
Domestic

26
23

Napier
Napier

12 years
7 years

St Augustine's Church Napier

4332

25 July 1918

Rev. W. J. Simkin, Church of England

No	62
Date of Notice	25 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Dismore Faulkner	Margaret Todd
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Henry Dismore Faulknor	Margaret Codd
	💍 1918/4810
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Building contractor	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	4332
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Simkin, Church of England

25 July 1918

Simon Tutu
Mary Spooner

Simon Tutu
Mary Spooner
💍 1918/4811

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
21

Tangoio
Tangoio

32 years
21 years

Registrar's Office Napier

4333

25 July 1918

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	63
Date of Notice	25 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Simon Tutu	Mary Spooner
	💍 1918/4811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Tangoio	Tangoio
Length of Residence	32 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	4333
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

02 August 1918

Arthur Stanley Heale
Nora Marian Hindmarsh

Arthur Stanley Heale
Nora Marian Hindmarsh
💍 1918/4812

Bachelor
Spinster

Doctor R.A.M.C.
Domestic Duties

31
25

Napier
Taradale

7 months
5 years

Anglican Church Taradale

4334

02 August 1918

Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

No	64
Date of Notice	02 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Stanley Heale	Nora Marian Hindmarsh
	💍 1918/4812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Doctor R.A.M.C.	Domestic Duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Taradale
Length of Residence	7 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Taradale
Folio	4334
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

05 August 1918

Francis Samuel Taylor Stitson
Claire Wilkinson

Francis Samuel Taylor Stilson
Claire Wilkinson
💍 1918/4789

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

28
21

Westshore
Westshore

3 days
4 weeks

St Andrews Church Port Ahuriri

4335

05 August 1918

Rev. F. B. Redgrave, Church of England

No	65
Date of Notice	05 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Samuel Taylor Stitson	Claire Wilkinson
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Samuel Taylor Stilson	Claire Wilkinson
	💍 1918/4789
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Westshore	Westshore
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Port Ahuriri
Folio	4335
Consent
Date of Certificate	05 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Redgrave, 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).