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 1052

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

3 October 1918

Oscar William Brock
Sarah Hannah Appleyard

Oscar William Brock
Sarah Hannah Appleyard
💍 1918/6121

Widower 30 June 1913
Not heard of husband as alive during past seven years

Labourer
Domestic Duties

46
52

Napier
Napier

46 years
12 years

Registrar's Office Napier

5796

3 October 1918

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	95
Date of Notice	3 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oscar William Brock	Sarah Hannah Appleyard
	💍 1918/6121
Condition	Widower 30 June 1913	Not heard of husband as alive during past seven years
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	46	52
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	46 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	5796
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

7 October 1918

Walter Robert Lawson Archibald
Jessie Cockburn

Walter Robert Lawson Archibald
Jessie Cockburn
💍 1918/6122

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic Duties

23
23

Puketapu
Taradale

6 months
9 months

Presbyterian Church Taradale

5797

7 October 1918

Rev. R. F. Fish Presbyterian

No	96
Date of Notice	7 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Robert Lawson Archibald	Jessie Cockburn
	💍 1918/6122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Puketapu	Taradale
Length of Residence	6 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Taradale
Folio	5797
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Fish Presbyterian

14 October 1918

Ernest Bashmore Wilkinson
Ellen Cecilia Fogarty

Ernest Cashmore Wilkinson
Ellen Cecilia Fogarty
💍 1918/1735

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Hotel Employee

25
23

Clive
Clive

13 years
3 years

St Patrick's Church Napier

6222

14 October 1918

Rev. Father Tymons Roman Catholic

No	97
Date of Notice	14 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Bashmore Wilkinson	Ellen Cecilia Fogarty
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Cashmore Wilkinson	Ellen Cecilia Fogarty
	💍 1918/1735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Hotel Employee
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	6222
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Tymons Roman Catholic

17 October 1918

Harry Biddle
Alma Margaret Spiller

Harry Biddle
Alma Margaret Spiller
💍 1918/6123

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
19

Kaiwaka
Napier

2 years
19 years

Anglican Church Port Ahuriri

5798

Flora Spiller Mother

17 October 1918

Rev. F. B. Redgrave Church of England

No	98
Date of Notice	17 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Biddle	Alma Margaret Spiller
	💍 1918/6123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Kaiwaka	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Port Ahuriri
Folio	5798
Consent	Flora Spiller Mother
Date of Certificate	17 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Redgrave Church of England

18 October 1918

Herbert Laurence Goodger
Annie Matilda Dean

Herbert Laurence Goodger
Annie Matilda Dean
💍 1918/6124

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk Post Office
Domestic Duties

21
24

Napier
Meeanee

11 years
24 years

St Augustine's Church Napier

5799

18 October 1918

Rev. W. J. Simkin Church of England

No	99
Date of Notice	18 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Laurence Goodger	Annie Matilda Dean
	💍 1918/6124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk Post Office	Domestic Duties
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Meeanee
Length of Residence	11 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	5799
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Simkin 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).