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 1038

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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

22 May 1918

William Frederick Palmer
Lottie Goullet

William Frederick Palmer
Lottie Goullet
💍 1918/3080

Bachelor
Widow 23 December 1906

Waterside Worker
Domestic Duties

42
35

Napier
Napier

20 years
8 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

2696

22 May 1918

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	22 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Palmer	Lottie Goullet
	💍 1918/3080
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 23 December 1906
Profession	Waterside Worker	Domestic Duties
Age	42	35
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	2696
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

22 May 1918

Percy Henry Moreland
Ellen Woodgate

Percy Henry Moreland
Ellen Woodgate
💍 1918/3081

Widower 2 February 1917
Spinster

Carpenter
Housekeeper

33
21

Westshore
Westshore

14 months
14 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

2697

22 May 1918

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	22 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Henry Moreland	Ellen Woodgate
	💍 1918/3081
Condition	Widower 2 February 1917	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Housekeeper
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Westshore	Westshore
Length of Residence	14 months	14 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	2697
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

30 May 1918

Charles Hamilton Johnston
Rose Adelaide Fanny Warden

Charles Hamilton Johnston
Rose Adelaide Fanny Warden
💍 1918/3082

Bachelor
Widow 12 September 1914

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

35
31

Napier
Napier

6 years
3 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

2698

30 May 1918

Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	30 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hamilton Johnston	Rose Adelaide Fanny Warden
	💍 1918/3082
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 12 September 1914
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	2698
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

4 June 1918

Bert Alan Walton
Ethel Elizabeth Le Quesne

Bert Alan Wilton
Ethel Elizabeth Le Quesne
💍 1918/3083

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Worker
Domestic Duties

34
27

Napier
Puketapu

6 days
21 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

2699

4 June 1918

Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	4 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bert Alan Walton	Ethel Elizabeth Le Quesne
BDM Match (97%)	Bert Alan Wilton	Ethel Elizabeth Le Quesne
	💍 1918/3083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Worker	Domestic Duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Puketapu
Length of Residence	6 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	2699
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

4 June 1918

Ernest Alexander Howell
Gladys Olive Wilton

Ernest Alexander Howell
Gladys Olive Wilton
💍 1918/3084

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier (late Farmer)
Cashier

42
24

Napier
Napier

3 days
1 day

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

2700

4 June 1918

Rev. H. J. Simkin, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	4 June 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alexander Howell	Gladys Olive Wilton
	💍 1918/3084
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier (late Farmer)	Cashier
Age	42	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	1 day
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	2700
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. 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).