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 1483

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar R. H. Poullon

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

161

5 March 1918

Harry Blanford
Catherine Stanley

Harry Blanford
Catherine Stanley
💍 1918/118

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

33
30

Wellington
Wellington

Life
11 years

St. Thomas Church Wellington South

249

5 March 1918

Rev. Thos. Fancourt

No	161
Date of Notice	5 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Blanford	Catherine Stanley
	💍 1918/118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Church Wellington South
Folio	249
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Fancourt

162

5 March 1918

Richard Henry Fearon Grace
Edith Madge Greenwood

Richard Henry Fearon Grace
Edith Madge Greenwood
💍 1918/871

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

26
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
5 weeks Roseneath Wellington

St. Barnabas Church Roseneath Wellington

250

5 March 1918

Rev. W. G. Baker

No	162
Date of Notice	5 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Fearon Grace	Edith Madge Greenwood
	💍 1918/871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	5 weeks Roseneath Wellington
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church Roseneath Wellington
Folio	250
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Baker

163

6 March 1918

Hugh Donald McCarthy
Gertrude Margaret Drury

Hugh Donald McCarthy
Gertrude Margaret Drury
💍 1918/882

Widower 23/8/1914
Spinster

Departmental Manager

36
23

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
2 years St. Wellington South

St. Anne's Church Green St. Wellington South

251

6 March 1918

Rev. E. Kimbell

No	163
Date of Notice	6 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Donald McCarthy	Gertrude Margaret Drury
	💍 1918/882
Condition	Widower 23/8/1914	Spinster
Profession	Departmental Manager
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years St. Wellington South
Marriage Place	St. Anne's Church Green St. Wellington South
Folio	251
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Kimbell

164

6 March 1918

Percy William Titshall
Beatrice May Ellis

Percy William Titshall
Beatrice May Ellis
💍 1918/889

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
15 years Cambridge Terrace Wellington

Congregational Church Cambridge Terrace Wellington

252

Edwin Joseph Ellis Father

6 March 1918

Rev. A. E. Hunt

No	164
Date of Notice	6 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Titshall	Beatrice May Ellis
	💍 1918/889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	15 years Cambridge Terrace Wellington
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Cambridge Terrace Wellington
Folio	252
Consent	Edwin Joseph Ellis Father
Date of Certificate	6 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Hunt

165

7 March 1918

Barton Oswald Victor Hocken
Marian Baldwin

Barton Oswald Victor Hoskin
Marian Baldwin
💍 1918/1100

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
21

Petone
Christchurch

3 months
3 days Christchurch

Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch

687

7 March 1918

Rev. P. Knight

No	165
Date of Notice	7 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Barton Oswald Victor Hocken	Marian Baldwin
BDM Match (96%)	Barton Oswald Victor Hoskin	Marian Baldwin
	💍 1918/1100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Petone	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days Christchurch
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch
Folio	687
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Knight

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).