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 1620

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar R. G. Donellon

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

835

19 November 1918

James Alexander Gilmour
Lorna Clare Nathan

James Alexander Gilmour
Lorna Clare Nathan
💍 1918/5642

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

30
21

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
4 years

All Saints Church, Kilbirnie

5234

19 November 1918

Rev. J. H. Sykes

No	835
Date of Notice	19 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Gilmour	Lorna Clare Nathan
	💍 1918/5642
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	4 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Kilbirnie
Folio	5234
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sykes

836

20 November 1918

John Cain
Ellen Eileen O'Brien

John Cain
Ellen Eileen O'Brien
💍 1918/5619

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Board Employee

34
25

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
2 years

St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington

5235

20 November 1918

Rev. W. H. Hurley

No	836
Date of Notice	20 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cain	Ellen Eileen O'Brien
	💍 1918/5619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Board Employee
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church Buckle Street Wellington
Folio	5235
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Hurley

837

20 November 1918

Arthur Llewellyn Pritchard
Juliet Crawford

Arthur Llewellyn Pritchard
Juliet Crawford
💍 1918/5620

Bachelor
Spinster

Clicker

25
24

Petone
Petone

3 years
4 years

Catholic Church Petone

5236

20 November 1918

Rev. P. Quealy

No	837
Date of Notice	20 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Llewellyn Pritchard	Juliet Crawford
	💍 1918/5620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clicker
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Petone
Folio	5236
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Quealy

838

20 November 1918

George John Morrall
Kathleen Murray Smith

George John Morrall
Kathleen Murray Smith
💍 1918/5621

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Surgeon

31
29

Wellington
Days Bay

3 weeks
2 years

St Albans Anglican Church Muritai

5237

20 November 1918

Rev. O. M. Stent

No	838
Date of Notice	20 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John Morrall	Kathleen Murray Smith
	💍 1918/5621
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Surgeon
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Days Bay
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	St Albans Anglican Church Muritai
Folio	5237
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. M. Stent

839

21 November 1918

Ernest Reid Cameron
Annie Emiline Fuller

Ernest Reid Cameron
Annie Emiline Fuller
💍 1918/5622

Widower 19 July 1917
Spinster

Blacksmith

38
28

Kilbirnie
Wellington

15 years
28 years Wellington

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington

5238

21 November 1918

Rev. H. Beggs

No	839
Date of Notice	21 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Reid Cameron	Annie Emiline Fuller
	💍 1918/5622
Condition	Widower 19 July 1917	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	28 years Wellington
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	5238
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

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).