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 1471

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar R. G. Poulton

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

101

12 February 1918

William Alexander Barrett
Jessie Walder

William Alexander Barrett
Jessie Walder
💍 1918/828

Bachelor
Spinster

Manufacturer

29
25

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
5 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

191

12 February 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	101
Date of Notice	12 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Barrett	Jessie Walder
	💍 1918/828
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturer
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	191
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

102

13 February 1918

James Edward Cloutt
Margaret Helen Unsworth

James Edward Cloutt
Margaret Helen Unsworth
💍 1918/829

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

24
22

Petone
Miramar

Life
4 years

Church of Christ Petone

192

13 February 1918

Mr. F. J. Marshall

No	102
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Cloutt	Margaret Helen Unsworth
	💍 1918/829
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Petone	Miramar
Length of Residence	Life	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Petone
Folio	192
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr. F. J. Marshall

103

13 February 1918

George Rae Shaw
Vera Lavinia Barley

George Rae Shaw
Vera Lavinia Barley
💍 1918/830

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor & Mechanical Engineer

25
20

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
Life

The Manse 35 Pirie St. Wellington

193

Emma Amelia Barley mother

13 February 1918

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	103
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rae Shaw	Vera Lavinia Barley
	💍 1918/830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor & Mechanical Engineer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	The Manse 35 Pirie St. Wellington
Folio	193
Consent	Emma Amelia Barley mother
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

104

13 February 1918

Valentine Charles Llewellyn
Vera Ethel Aitchison

Valentine Charles Llewellyn
Vera Ethel Aitchison
💍 1918/831

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

31
28

Featherston
Wellington

16 months
2 months

The Residence of the Bride's Mother Brougham Avenue Wellington

194

13 February 1918

Rev. R. H. Catherwood

No	104
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Valentine Charles Llewellyn	Vera Ethel Aitchison
	💍 1918/831
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 months	2 months
Marriage Place	The Residence of the Bride's Mother Brougham Avenue Wellington
Folio	194
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Catherwood

105

13 February 1918

Edward Thaddeus Coffey
Kathleen Walsh

Edward Thaddeus Coffey
Kathleen Walsh
💍 1918/833

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

36
16

Trentham
Wellington South

2 months
Life

St Anne's Church Wellington South

195

Patrick Walsh Father

13 February 1918

Rev. M. Devoy

No	105
Date of Notice	13 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thaddeus Coffey	Kathleen Walsh
	💍 1918/833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	36	16
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington South
Length of Residence	2 months	Life
Marriage Place	St Anne's Church Wellington South
Folio	195
Consent	Patrick Walsh Father
Date of Certificate	13 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Devoy

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).