Intentions to Marry, 1918 Levin to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840478, 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.

1918d contains pages 1249-1646, covering districts from Levin to Wellington

Page 1323

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

14 March 1918

Charles Abel Peters
Wilhelmine Martha Catherine Denson

Charles Abel Peters
Wilhelmina Martha Cathrine Denson
💍 1918/696

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor
Domestic Duties

22
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

22 years
19 years

St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North

1209

John Denson Father

14 March 1918

Rev F. W. Boys Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	14 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Abel Peters	Wilhelmine Martha Catherine Denson
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Abel Peters	Wilhelmina Martha Cathrine Denson
	💍 1918/696
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Palmerston North
Folio	1209
Consent	John Denson Father
Date of Certificate	14 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev F. W. Boys Methodist

18 March 1918

Ivanhoe Stephen Shaw
Amelia Ivy Howick

Ivanhoe Stephen Shaw
Amelia Ivy Howick
💍 1918/673

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

30
24

Aokautere Palmerston North
Palmerston North

10 years
4 years

St Peters Church of England Palmerston North

1210

18 March 1918

Rev C. Coates Anglican

No	22
Date of Notice	18 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivanhoe Stephen Shaw	Amelia Ivy Howick
	💍 1918/673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Aokautere Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	1210
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev C. Coates Anglican

19 March 1918

Richard Francis Bale
Lorna Evelyn McHardy

Richard Francis Bale
Lorna Evelyn McHardy
💍 1918/674

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic Duties

29
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
19 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

1214

19 March 1918

Rev A. Doull Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	19 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Francis Bale	Lorna Evelyn McHardy
	💍 1918/674
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic Duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	1214
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull Presbyterian

26 March 1918

Thomas Harold Richardson
Alice Mabel Stephenson

Thomas Harold Richardson
Alice Mabel Stephenson
💍 1918/675

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

12 years
14 years

St Peters Church of England Palmerston North

1212

William Henry Stephenson Father

26 March 1918

Rev C. Coates Anglican

No	24
Date of Notice	26 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Harold Richardson	Alice Mabel Stephenson
	💍 1918/675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	12 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	1212
Consent	William Henry Stephenson Father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev C. Coates Anglican

30 March 1918

Albert Victor Darling
Muriel Valentine Johnson

Albert Victor Durling
Muriel Valentine Johnson
💍 1918/677

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

28
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
5 years

Registrars Office Palmerston North

30 March 1918

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	25
Date of Notice	30 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Victor Darling	Muriel Valentine Johnson
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Victor Durling	Muriel Valentine Johnson
	💍 1918/677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1918
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt 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).