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 1492

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar R. G. Poulton

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

206

22 March 1918

Richard Middleton Brewer
Ethel Irene Oliver

Richard Middleton Brewer
Ethel Irene Oliver
💍 1918/905

Bachelor
Spinster

Indent Agent

34
25

Wellington
Wellington

28 years
Life

St. Hilda's Church of England Island Bay, Wellington

292

22 March 1918

Rev. J. G. S. Castle

No	206
Date of Notice	22 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Middleton Brewer	Ethel Irene Oliver
	💍 1918/905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Indent Agent
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	28 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Hilda's Church of England Island Bay, Wellington
Folio	292
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. S. Castle

207

22 March 1918

Kum Ping Ngan
Yuen Jer

Kum Ping Ngan
Yuen Jer
💍 1918/906

Widower October 1914
Spinster

Fruiterer

45
43

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
3 days

Residence of Mrs Wong 4 Mortimer Terrace Wellington

293

22 March 1918

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	207
Date of Notice	22 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kum Ping Ngan	Yuen Jer
	💍 1918/906
Condition	Widower October 1914	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	45	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Wong 4 Mortimer Terrace Wellington
Folio	293
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

208

23 March 1918

Alfred John Pollard
Mahala Victoria Diamontina Saulbrey

Alfred John Pollard
Mahala Victoria Diamontina Saulbrey
💍 1918/908

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
21

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

9 months
9 months

Church of England Lower Hutt

294

23 March 1918

Rev. A. L. Hansell

No	208
Date of Notice	23 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Pollard	Mahala Victoria Diamontina Saulbrey
	💍 1918/908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Lower Hutt
Folio	294
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell

209

23 March 1918

Frank Selby Burson
Wanda Colman

Frank Selby Burson
Wana Colman
💍 1918/909

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
22

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

10 months
6 years

Presbyterian Church Upper Hutt

295

23 March 1918

Rev. W. W. Scott

No	209
Date of Notice	23 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Selby Burson	Wanda Colman
BDM Match (96%)	Frank Selby Burson	Wana Colman
	💍 1918/909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	10 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Upper Hutt
Folio	295
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Scott

210

23 March 1918

William Smith
Constance Muriel Baker

William Smith
Constance Muriel Baker
💍 1918/910

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter & Joiner

28
29

Wellington
Wellington

Life
6 years

St. Thomas' Church Wellington South

296

23 March 1918

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	210
Date of Notice	23 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Smith	Constance Muriel Baker
	💍 1918/910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter & Joiner
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church Wellington South
Folio	296
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

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).