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 1529

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1918 Registrar W. W. Cook

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

392

20 May 1918

Francis Chapman
Mavis Clere

Francis Chapman
Mavis Clere
💍 1918/2354

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

21
18

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
14 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

1942

14 days Notice (Section 27)

4 June 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	392
Date of Notice	20 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Chapman	Mavis Clere
	💍 1918/2354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	14 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	1942
Consent	14 days Notice (Section 27)
Date of Certificate	4 June 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

393

20 May 1918

Herbert Sapsford
Margaret Osborne Ushaw

Herbert Sapsford
Margaret Osborne Ushan
💍 1918/2355

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

23
20

Trentham
Wellington

6 weeks
4 years

St Marks Church, Wellington

1943

Robert Ushaw, father

20 May 1918

Rev. C. F. Askew

No	393
Date of Notice	20 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Sapsford	Margaret Osborne Ushaw
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Sapsford	Margaret Osborne Ushan
	💍 1918/2355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	4 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	1943
Consent	Robert Ushaw, father
Date of Certificate	20 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew

394

20 May 1918

John Michael Batchelor
Ellen Elizabeth Lynch

John Michael Batchelor
Ellen Elizabeth Lynch
💍 1918/2356

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

21
20

Trentham
Wellington

11 months
3 days

The Sacred Heart Church Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

1944

Michael Lynch, father

20 May 1918

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	394
Date of Notice	20 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Michael Batchelor	Ellen Elizabeth Lynch
	💍 1918/2356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 months	3 days
Marriage Place	The Sacred Heart Church Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	1944
Consent	Michael Lynch, father
Date of Certificate	20 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

395

21 May 1918

Karl Rasmussen
Annie Storey

Karl Rasmussen
Annie Storey
💍 1918/2358

Widower 31/7/1917
Widow 8/7/1911

Farmer

62
62

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

43 years
2 months

Residence of Mr W Whitehouse, 154 Clyde Quay, Wellington

1945

21 May 1918

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	395
Date of Notice	21 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Karl Rasmussen	Annie Storey
	💍 1918/2358
Condition	Widower 31/7/1917	Widow 8/7/1911
Profession	Farmer
Age	62	62
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	43 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W Whitehouse, 154 Clyde Quay, Wellington
Folio	1945
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

396

22 May 1918

William Newton Chilman
Elsie Gladys Anderson

William Newton Chilman
Elsie Gladys Anderson
💍 1918/2359

Bachelor
Divorcee - Decree Absolute 18/5/1918

Soldier

31
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
2 months

St John Church, Wellington

1946

22 May 1918

Rev. J. Gibb

No	396
Date of Notice	22 May 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Newton Chilman	Elsie Gladys Anderson
	💍 1918/2359
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee - Decree Absolute 18/5/1918
Profession	Soldier
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St John Church, Wellington
Folio	1946
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

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).