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 1572

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1918 Registrar W. W. Cook

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

603

9 August 1918

Francis Isitt Valentine Irvine
Henrietta Grace Watson

Francis Isitt Valentine Irvine
Henrietta Grace Watson
💍 1918/4116

Bachelor
Spinster

Ship Chandler

24
24

Wellington
Wellington

Life
2 years

Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

3631

9 August 1918

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	603
Date of Notice	9 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Isitt Valentine Irvine	Henrietta Grace Watson
	💍 1918/4116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ship Chandler
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	3631
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

604

9 August 1918

Eric Walter Hewson
Alice Maud Walters

Eric Walter Hewson
Alice Maud Walters
💍 1918/4117

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
22

Petone
Petone

16 years
12 years

House of J. H. Walters, 23 Esplanade, Petone

3633

9 August 1918

Rev. A. McBean

No	604
Date of Notice	9 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Walter Hewson	Alice Maud Walters
	💍 1918/4117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	16 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of J. H. Walters, 23 Esplanade, Petone
Folio	3633
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McBean

605

10 August 1918

Edward Terence Morris
Annie Mary Spencer

Edward Terence Morris
Annie May Spencer
💍 1918/20

Bachelor
Spinster

Motorman
Civil Servant

28
21

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
21 years

St. Marys Church, Karori

3634

10 August 1918

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	605
Date of Notice	10 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Terence Morris	Annie Mary Spencer
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Terence Morris	Annie May Spencer
	💍 1918/20
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motorman	Civil Servant
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Church, Karori
Folio	3634
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

606

10 August 1918

Frank Thomas Rowell
Dorothea Mara Avery

Frank Thomas Rowell
Dorothea Mara Avery
💍 1918/4095

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

21
18

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

18/3635

Charles Avery, Father, Featherston

10 August 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	606
Date of Notice	10 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Thomas Rowell	Dorothea Mara Avery
	💍 1918/4095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	18/3635
Consent	Charles Avery, Father, Featherston
Date of Certificate	10 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

607

10 August 1918

Horace Grey Fauvel
Hilda Merle Roberts

Horace Grey Fauvel
Hilda Merle Roberts
💍 1918/4096

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
23

Wellington
Wellington

10 days
Life

Congregational Church, Constable Street, Wellington

3636

10 August 1918

Rev. D. A. Evans

No	607
Date of Notice	10 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Grey Fauvel	Hilda Merle Roberts
	💍 1918/4096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 days	Life
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Constable Street, Wellington
Folio	3636
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. A. Evans

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).