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 1460

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

24 January 1918

Raymond Leander Preston
Jemima Dolan

Raymond Leander Preston
Jemima Dolan
💍 1918/80

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
2 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

137

24 January 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	46
Date of Notice	24 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Leander Preston	Jemima Dolan
	💍 1918/80
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	137
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

24 January 1918

Arthur Pearce
Freda Ellen Troon

Arthur Pearce
Freda Ellen Troon
💍 1918/81

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

20
19

Trentham
Wellington

6 days
3 days

Registrars Office, Wellington

138

Charles Arthur Pearce, Father; Frederick Troon, Father

24 January 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	24 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Pearce	Freda Ellen Troon
	💍 1918/81
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	138
Consent	Charles Arthur Pearce, Father; Frederick Troon, Father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

24 January 1918

Gilbert King
Edith Lois Thane

Gilbert King
Edith Lois Thane
💍 1918/82

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
25

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
25 years

Catholic Apostolic Church, Webb St, Wellington

139

24 January 1918

Rev. W. T. Thane

No	48
Date of Notice	24 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert King	Edith Lois Thane
	💍 1918/82
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Apostolic Church, Webb St, Wellington
Folio	139
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. T. Thane

24 January 1918

Joseph Henry D'Ath
Margaret Chiene Ingles

Joseph Henry D'Ath
Margaret Chiene Ingles
💍 1918/83

Widower 16/8/1916
Spinster

Farmer

47
38

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington

140

24 January 1918

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	49
Date of Notice	24 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry D'Ath	Margaret Chiene Ingles
	💍 1918/83
Condition	Widower 16/8/1916	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	47	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	140
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

26 January 1918

Philip Sheridan Eldershaw Hereford
Eirene Ethel Walters

Philip Sheridan Eldershaw Hereford
Eirener Ethel Walter
💍 1918/84

Bachelor
Widow 16 June 1914

Journalist

28
30

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 week

Registrar's Office, Wellington

141

26 January 1918

Deputy Registrar

No	50
Date of Notice	26 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Sheridan Eldershaw Hereford	Eirene Ethel Walters
BDM Match (95%)	Philip Sheridan Eldershaw Hereford	Eirener Ethel Walter
	💍 1918/84
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 16 June 1914
Profession	Journalist
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	141
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).