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 1506

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

583

1 August 1918

John Minchin Franklin
Eva Henry

John Minchin Franklin
Eva Henry
💍 1918/4115

Bachelor
Widow

Retired

60
50

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
6 days

St Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington

3631

1 August 1918

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	583
Date of Notice	1 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Minchin Franklin	Eva Henry
	💍 1918/4115
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Retired
Age	60	50
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	6 days
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	3631
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

584

1 August 1918

George Bilderbeck
Christina Skelly

George Bilderbeck
Christina Kelly
💍 1918/4197

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
22 years

Salvation Army Citadel, Wellington

3613

1 August 1918

Staff Captain F. Burton

No	584
Date of Notice	1 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bilderbeck	Christina Skelly
BDM Match (94%)	George Bilderbeck	Christina Kelly
	💍 1918/4197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Citadel, Wellington
Folio	3613
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Staff Captain F. Burton

585

1 August 1918

Hermon Hutchens Chinery
Georgiana Marie Justice

Hermon Hutchens Chinery
Georgeiana Marie Justice
💍 1918/4198

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Telephone Operator

28
23

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
8 days

St John's Church, Trentham

3614

1 August 1918

Rev. A. W. Stratford

No	585
Date of Notice	1 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hermon Hutchens Chinery	Georgiana Marie Justice
BDM Match (98%)	Hermon Hutchens Chinery	Georgeiana Marie Justice
	💍 1918/4198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Telephone Operator
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	8 days
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Trentham
Folio	3614
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Stratford

586

1 August 1918

Walter Robert Pumfrey
Louisa Mary Bell

Walks Robert Pumfrey
Louisa Mary Bell
💍 1918/4199

Bachelor
Widow

Orchardist

34
43

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St Mary's Church, Karori

3615

1 August 1918

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	586
Date of Notice	1 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Robert Pumfrey	Louisa Mary Bell
BDM Match (93%)	Walks Robert Pumfrey	Louisa Mary Bell
	💍 1918/4199
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Orchardist
Age	34	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Karori
Folio	3615
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

587

2 August 1918

Arthur Henry Doughty
Georgina Evelyn Perrett

Arthur Henry Doughty
Georgina Evelyn Perrett
💍 1918/4200

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Fireman

37
28

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
28 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

3616

2 August 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	587
Date of Notice	2 August 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Doughty	Georgina Evelyn Perrett
	💍 1918/4200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Fireman
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	3616
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 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).