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 1607

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

770

15 October 1918

Harold William Randolph Walkley
Doris McDonald

Harold William Randolph Walkley
Doris McDonald
💍 1918/5581

Bachelor
Spinster

Post & Telegraph Employee

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

8 months
2 years

Presbyterian Church Kilbirnie

5171

15 October 1918

Rev. H. Beggs

No	770
Date of Notice	15 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold William Randolph Walkley	Doris McDonald
	💍 1918/5581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Post & Telegraph Employee
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kilbirnie
Folio	5171
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

771

15 October 1918

George Thomas Summerfield
Anne Clara Dartnell

George Thomas Summerfield
Annie Clara Dacknell
💍 1918/5582

Bachelor
Spinster

Cinematograph Operator

23
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
7 years

St Thomas' Church Newtown Wellington

5172

15 October 1918

Rev. J. Fancourt

No	771
Date of Notice	15 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Summerfield	Anne Clara Dartnell
BDM Match (93%)	George Thomas Summerfield	Annie Clara Dacknell
	💍 1918/5582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cinematograph Operator
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	7 years
Marriage Place	St Thomas' Church Newtown Wellington
Folio	5172
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Fancourt

772

15 October 1918

Harry Vincent Westbury
Anna Louise Victoria Schlierike

Harry Vincent Westbury
Anna Louise Victoria Schlierike
💍 1918/5583

Bachelor
Divorcee Decree Absolute 27 March 1918

Cycle Importer

44
33

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

15 years
5 years

Knox Church Lower Hutt

5173

15 October 1918

Rev. J. McCaw

No	772
Date of Notice	15 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Vincent Westbury	Anna Louise Victoria Schlierike
	💍 1918/5583
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee Decree Absolute 27 March 1918
Profession	Cycle Importer
Age	44	33
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	15 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Lower Hutt
Folio	5173
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McCaw

773

17 October 1918

Percy Mave Cosgrove
Imelda Coogan

Percy Cosgrave
Imelda Coogan
💍 1918/5584

Bachelor
Widow 11 April 1915

Police Constable

26
31

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
17 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

5174

17 October 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	773
Date of Notice	17 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Mave Cosgrove	Imelda Coogan
BDM Match (84%)	Percy Cosgrave	Imelda Coogan
	💍 1918/5584
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 11 April 1915
Profession	Police Constable
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	5174
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

774

17 October 1918

Henry James Wakelin
Amelia Alice Dunford

Henry James Wakelin
Amelia Alice Dunford
💍 1918/5585

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

39
33

Petone
Petone

39 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. A. Dunford Nelson Street Petone

5175

17 October 1918

Rev. A. M. Bean

No	774
Date of Notice	17 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Wakelin	Amelia Alice Dunford
	💍 1918/5585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	39 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. Dunford Nelson Street Petone
Folio	5175
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Bean

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).