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 1553

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1918 Registrar R. B. Poullon

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

735

2 October 1918

Vincent Herbert Trash
Hilda May Butler

Vincent Herbert Trask
Hilda May Butler
💍 1918/5545

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

27
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 months

St. John's Church Willis Street Wellington

5136

2 October 1918

Rev. J. Gibb

No	735
Date of Notice	2 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vincent Herbert Trash	Hilda May Butler
BDM Match (98%)	Vincent Herbert Trask	Hilda May Butler
	💍 1918/5545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	5136
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

736

2 October 1918

William Richard Harrison
Hazel Christina Burgess

William Richard Harrison
Hazel Christina Burgess
💍 1918/5546

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
5 days

Registrar's Office Wellington

5137

William George Burgess, father

2 October 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	736
Date of Notice	2 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Harrison	Hazel Christina Burgess
	💍 1918/5546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	5137
Consent	William George Burgess, father
Date of Certificate	2 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

737

3 October 1918

Arthur Holberton Miles Brathwaite
Ursula Florence Ruby Milford

Arthur Holberton Miles Brathwaite
Ursula Florence Ruby Mitford
💍 1918/5547

Divorced Decree Absolute 19/10/1917
Spinster

Soldier

43
37

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
1 year

Registrar's Office Wellington

5138

3 October 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	737
Date of Notice	3 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Holberton Miles Brathwaite	Ursula Florence Ruby Milford
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Holberton Miles Brathwaite	Ursula Florence Ruby Mitford
	💍 1918/5547
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 19/10/1917	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	43	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	5138
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

738

3 October 1918

Frank Hey
Lela Mary Brett

Frank Hey
Lela Mary Brett
💍 1918/5548

Bachelor
Spinster

Ship-wright

22
19

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
1 year

St. Mark's Church Wellington

5139

Alice Sarah Goldsmith Mother

3 October 1918

Rev. C. F. Askew

No	738
Date of Notice	3 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Hey	Lela Mary Brett
	💍 1918/5548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ship-wright
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church Wellington
Folio	5139
Consent	Alice Sarah Goldsmith Mother
Date of Certificate	3 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. Askew

739

3 October 1918

James Dick
Margaret Thorburn Porter

James Dick
Margaret Thorburn Porter
💍 1918/5549

Divorced Decree Absolute 17/9/1918
Spinster

Driver

33
37

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
2 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

5140

3 October 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	739
Date of Notice	3 October 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dick	Margaret Thorburn Porter
	💍 1918/5549
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 17/9/1918	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	33	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	5140
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).