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 1563

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar W. B. Calder

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

558

19 July 1918

James Arthur Hoverd
Florence Lilian Davies

James Arthur Hoverd
Florence Lilian Davies
💍 1918/4072

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
25

Featherston
Wellington

4 months
12 years

House of E. H. Davies, Harland Street, Wellington

3587

19 July 1918

Mr. J. H. White

No	558
Date of Notice	19 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Arthur Hoverd	Florence Lilian Davies
	💍 1918/4072
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	12 years
Marriage Place	House of E. H. Davies, Harland Street, Wellington
Folio	3587
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. H. White

559

19 July 1918

William Augustus Becher
Emily Elfie Wood

William Augustus Becker
Emily Elfie Wood
💍 1918/4073

Widower (2/4/1902)
Spinster

Carpenter

47
24

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
1 month

Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

3588

19 July 1918

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	559
Date of Notice	19 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Augustus Becher	Emily Elfie Wood
BDM Match (98%)	William Augustus Becker	Emily Elfie Wood
	💍 1918/4073
Condition	Widower (2/4/1902)	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	47	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	3588
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

560

19 July 1918

John Robert Hugh McKenzie
Annie May Wrigley

John Robert Hugh McKenzie
Annie May Wrigley
💍 1918/4074

Bachelor
Spinster

Importer

41
28

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Roseneath, Wellington

3589

19 July 1918

Rev. G. K. Aitken

No	560
Date of Notice	19 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robert Hugh McKenzie	Annie May Wrigley
	💍 1918/4074
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Importer
Age	41	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Roseneath, Wellington
Folio	3589
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Aitken

561

20 July 1918

Thomas Cramp
Emily Walker

Thomas Cramp
Emily Walker
💍 1918/4075

Widower (22 January 1917)
Widow

Butcher

46
40

Wadestown
Wadestown

10 years
7 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

3590

20 July 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	561
Date of Notice	20 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Cramp	Emily Walker
	💍 1918/4075
Condition	Widower (22 January 1917)	Widow
Profession	Butcher
Age	46	40
Dwelling Place	Wadestown	Wadestown
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	3590
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

562

20 July 1918

William Henry Elliott
Kate Harriett Wilton

William Henry Elliott
Kate Harriett Wilton
💍 1918/4076

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanist

38
38

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
38 years

Presbyterian Church, Pirie Street, Wellington

3591

20 July 1918

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	562
Date of Notice	20 July 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Elliott	Kate Harriett Wilton
	💍 1918/4076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanist
Age	38	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	38 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	3591
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).