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 1032

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 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

4 March 1918

Thomas George Haywood
Norah Kathleen Ryan

Thomas George Haywood
Norah Kathleen Ryan
💍 1918/1297

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic

21
23

Napier
Napier

1 year
1 year

The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier

1086

4 March 1918

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	4 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas George Haywood	Norah Kathleen Ryan
	💍 1918/1297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier
Folio	1086
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

9 March 1918

Roy Guy
Winifred Margaret Ena Hunte

Roy Guy
Winifred Margaret Ena Hunte
💍 1918/1298

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

23
20

Napier
Napier

3 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Napier

1087

Section 27, Parents dead, No one to consent

23 March 1918

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	9 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Guy	Winifred Margaret Ena Hunte
	💍 1918/1298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Napier
Folio	1087
Consent	Section 27, Parents dead, No one to consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

12 March 1918

Joseph Ronald Skews
Elizabeth Ann Lilliquist

Joseph Ronald Skews
Elizabeth Ann Lilliquist
💍 1918/1299

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Driver
Domestic Servant

20
18

Napier
Napier

20 years
8 years

St. Augustines Church, Napier

1088

John William Skews, Father; Mary Jane Lilliquist, Mother

12 March 1918

Rev. H. J. Swinburn, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Ronald Skews	Elizabeth Ann Lilliquist
	💍 1918/1299
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Driver	Domestic Servant
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church, Napier
Folio	1088
Consent	John William Skews, Father; Mary Jane Lilliquist, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Swinburn, Church of England

14 March 1918

Amos Matthew George Taylor
Alice Muriel Noble Campbell

Amos Matthew George Taylor
Alice Muriel Noble Campbell
💍 1918/1300

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner
Domestic Duties

30
32

Westshore
Napier

30 years
3 weeks

Registrars Office, Napier

1089

14 March 1918

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	14 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Amos Matthew George Taylor	Alice Muriel Noble Campbell
	💍 1918/1300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner	Domestic Duties
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Westshore	Napier
Length of Residence	30 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Napier
Folio	1089
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1918
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

27 March 1918

Hugh McNamara
Clara Maud May Watson

Hugh McNamara
Clara Maud May Watson
💍 1918/1301

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Saleswoman

26
24

Napier
Napier

26 years
24 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

1090

27 March 1918

Rev. J. W. Dowling, Roman Catholic

No	20
Date of Notice	27 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McNamara	Clara Maud May Watson
	💍 1918/1301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	26 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	1090
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Dowling, Roman Catholic

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).