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 1570

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

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

593

5 August 1918

Andrew Archibald Lincoln McRae
Elizabeth Agatha O'Brien

Andrew Archibald Lincoln McNae
Elizabeth Agatha O'Brien
💍 1918/4207

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

30
27

Trentham
Wellington

4 months
11 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

3622

5 August 1918

Rev. W. H. Hurley

No	593
Date of Notice	5 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Archibald Lincoln McRae	Elizabeth Agatha O'Brien
BDM Match (98%)	Andrew Archibald Lincoln McNae	Elizabeth Agatha O'Brien
	💍 1918/4207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	3622
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Hurley

594

6 August 1918

Herbert Alfred Arney
Ivy Irene Beatrice Rees

Herbert Alfred Arney
Ivy Irene Beatrice Rees
💍 1918/4208

Widower 9 June 1917
Spinster

Clerk
Compositor

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
21 years

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

3623

6 August 1918

Rev. F. M. Kempthorne

No	594
Date of Notice	6 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Alfred Arney	Ivy Irene Beatrice Rees
	💍 1918/4208
Condition	Widower 9 June 1917	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Compositor
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	3623
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. M. Kempthorne

595

6 August 1918

Eric Leonz Meier
Frieda Helene Isabella Walter

Eric Leonz Meier
Frieda Helene Isabella Walter
💍 1918/4209

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
23

Trentham
Wellington

2 months
23 years

St. Andrew's Church, Wellington

3624

6 August 1918

Rev. S. R. Orr

No	595
Date of Notice	6 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Leonz Meier	Frieda Helene Isabella Walter
	💍 1918/4209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Wellington
Folio	3624
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. R. Orr

596

7 August 1918

Reginald Harry Hickson
Johannah O'Sullivan

Reginald Harry Hickson
Johannah O'Sullivan
💍 1918/5233

Bachelor
Spinster

Photo-Engraver

32
23

Lower Hutt
Petone

Life
Life

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Boulcott Street, Wellington

4869

7 August 1918

Rev. S. Mahony

No	596
Date of Notice	7 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Harry Hickson	Johannah O'Sullivan
	💍 1918/5233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photo-Engraver
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Petone
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	4869
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Mahony

597

7 August 1918

David Patterson
Ethel Reith

David Patterson
Ethel Reills
💍 1918/4210

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
43

Khandallah
Khandallah

4 years
27 years

Residence of Mrs Reith, 35 Crescent Road, Khandallah

3625

7 August 1918

Rev. J. Cumming

No	597
Date of Notice	7 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Patterson	Ethel Reith
BDM Match (88%)	David Patterson	Ethel Reills
	💍 1918/4210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	43
Dwelling Place	Khandallah	Khandallah
Length of Residence	4 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Reith, 35 Crescent Road, Khandallah
Folio	3625
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cumming

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).