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 1599

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar R. S. 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

730

1 October 1918

George Frederick Walls
Edith MacAlpine

George Frederick Walls
Edith MacAlpine
💍 1918/5564

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

30
26

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

5131

1 October 1918

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	730
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Walls	Edith MacAlpine
	💍 1918/5564
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	5131
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

731

1 October 1918

Hugh Reid
Rebecca Jane Moir

Hugh Reid
Rebecca Jane Moir
💍 1918/5565

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchman

33
24

Wellington
Wellington

13 months
2 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

5132

1 October 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	731
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Reid	Rebecca Jane Moir
	💍 1918/5565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchman
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	5132
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

732

1 October 1918

Stanley Clifford Baker
Jeanne Violet Litt

Stanley Clifford Baker
Jeanne Violet Kitt
💍 1918/5566

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

27
21

Wellington
Wellington

Life
3 years

St Alban's Church, Eastbourne

5133

1 October 1918

Rev. G. M. Stent

No	732
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Clifford Baker	Jeanne Violet Litt
BDM Match (97%)	Stanley Clifford Baker	Jeanne Violet Kitt
	💍 1918/5566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	3 years
Marriage Place	St Alban's Church, Eastbourne
Folio	5133
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. M. Stent

733

1 October 1918

Sydney Charles Moss
Winnifred Agnes Moira Kelly

Sydney Charles Moss
Winifred Agnes Moira Kelly
💍 1918/5567

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot Repairer

24
24

Porirua
Porirua

13 months
18 months

The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

5134

1 October 1918

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	733
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Charles Moss	Winnifred Agnes Moira Kelly
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Charles Moss	Winifred Agnes Moira Kelly
	💍 1918/5567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot Repairer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Porirua
Length of Residence	13 months	18 months
Marriage Place	The Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	5134
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

734

1 October 1918

John Francis Gallagher
Sheila Mary Josephine Cahill

John Francis Gallagher
Sheila Mary Josephine Cahill
💍 1918/5544

Widower 3/11/1916
Spinster

Farmer

54
34

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 weeks

St Gerard's Church, Hawker Street, Wellington

5135

1 October 1918

M. O'Leary

No	734
Date of Notice	1 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Gallagher	Sheila Mary Josephine Cahill
	💍 1918/5544
Condition	Widower 3/11/1916	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	54	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St Gerard's Church, Hawker Street, Wellington
Folio	5135
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1918
Officiating Minister	M. O'Leary

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).