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 1554

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar R. A. Goulton

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

805

30 October 1918

Alan Basil Sheath
Constance Jane Ramsbottom-Isherwood

Alan Basil Sheath
Constance Jane Ramsbottom-Isherwood
💍 1918/5663

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
25

Wellington
Day's Bay

6 months
Life

St. Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington

5205

30 October 1918

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	805
Date of Notice	30 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Basil Sheath	Constance Jane Ramsbottom-Isherwood
	💍 1918/5663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Day's Bay
Length of Residence	6 months	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	5205
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

806

31 October 1918

Jens Jensen
Hope Joy Jones

Jens Jensen
Hope Joy Jones
💍 1918/5664

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

38
25

Petone
Petone

5 years
12 years

Residence of Mr. T. Jones, 58 Fitzherbert Street, Petone

5206

31 October 1918

Major W. P. Page

No	806
Date of Notice	31 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jens Jensen	Hope Joy Jones
	💍 1918/5664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. Jones, 58 Fitzherbert Street, Petone
Folio	5206
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Major W. P. Page

807

31 October 1918

Harry Ernest Browne
Ethel May Dormer

Harry Ernest Browne
Ethel May Dormer
💍 1918/5665

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

31
32

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
24 years

Thorndon Methodist Church, Wellington

5207

31 October 1918

Rev. A. Reader

No	807
Date of Notice	31 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Ernest Browne	Ethel May Dormer
	💍 1918/5665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Thorndon Methodist Church, Wellington
Folio	5207
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reader

808

31 October 1918

James Francis William Pilkington
Keziah Tripp

James Francis William Pilkington
Kaziah Tripp
💍 1918/5666

Divorced Decree Absolute 2/10/18
Spinster

Chef

37
27

Wellington
Wellington

17 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

5208

31 October 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	808
Date of Notice	31 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Francis William Pilkington	Keziah Tripp
BDM Match (96%)	James Francis William Pilkington	Kaziah Tripp
	💍 1918/5666
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 2/10/18	Spinster
Profession	Chef
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	5208
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

809

1 November 1918

Louis Michael
Clara Frances Davies

Louis Michael
Clara Francis Davies
💍 1918/5667

Widower 25/1/1918
Spinster

Gentleman

55
40

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

The Residence of Mr. P. Isaacs, 254 The Terrace, Wellington

5209

1 November 1918

Rev. H. Van Staveren

No	809
Date of Notice	1 November 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Michael	Clara Frances Davies
BDM Match (98%)	Louis Michael	Clara Francis Davies
	💍 1918/5667
Condition	Widower 25/1/1918	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	55	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. P. Isaacs, 254 The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	5209
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Van Staveren

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).