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 1320

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

21 January 1918

James Knight Paton
Vera Irene Graham

James Knight Paton
Vera Irene Graham
💍 1918/658

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Teacher of Music

27
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 years
24 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

1194

21 January 1918

Rev A. Doull Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	21 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Knight Paton	Vera Irene Graham
	💍 1918/658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Teacher of Music
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	1194
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull Presbyterian

21 January 1918

Robert Thompson
Violet Lavinia Strawbridge

Robert Thompson
Violet Lavinia Strawbridge
💍 1918/660

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic

32
29

Kairanga
Palmerston North

2 years
10 years

Residence of E. T. Strawbridge 144 Rangitikei Street Palmerston North

1195

21 January 1918

Rev J. H. Haslam Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	21 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Thompson	Violet Lavinia Strawbridge
	💍 1918/660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Kairanga	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of E. T. Strawbridge 144 Rangitikei Street Palmerston North
Folio	1195
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Haslam Methodist

23 January 1918

Sidney Egmont Gilshnan
Violet Annie Drury

Sidney Egmont Gilshnan
Violet Annie Drury
💍 1918/661

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Dressmaker

26
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 weeks
23 years

St Peters Church of England Palmerston North

1196

23 January 1918

Rev K. J. McFarland Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	23 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Egmont Gilshnan	Violet Annie Drury
	💍 1918/661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Dressmaker
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 weeks	23 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	1196
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev K. J. McFarland Anglican

28 January 1918

George Henry Hampson
Olive Teresa Ihle

George Henry Hampson
Olive Teresa Ihle
💍 1918/662

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

6 months
2 years

Registrars Office Palmerston North

1197

28 January 1918

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	28 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Hampson	Olive Teresa Ihle
	💍 1918/662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	1197
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1918
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt Registrar

4 February 1918

William Carruthers
Kathleen Holmes

William Carruthers
Kathleen Holmes
💍 1918/663

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Shop assistant

27
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

21 years
5 years

Residence of Rev D. B. F. Carlisle 11 Morris Street Palmerston North

1198

4 February 1918

Rev D. B. F. Carlisle Baptist

No	10
Date of Notice	4 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Carruthers	Kathleen Holmes
	💍 1918/663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Shop assistant
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	21 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev D. B. F. Carlisle 11 Morris Street Palmerston North
Folio	1198
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev D. B. F. Carlisle Baptist

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).