Intentions to Marry, 1903 North Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840423, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, October 10 2025

1903 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 026

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1903 Registrar W. T. Mansfield

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

646

13 November 1903

Reginald George Smith Backhouse
Helena Maud Zona

Reginald George Smith
Helena Maud Long
💍 1903/291

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

38
21

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
18 years

Residence of W. H. F. Long, Royburgh Street

03/5700

13 November 1903

Rev. R. K. Elliott

No	646
Date of Notice	13 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald George Smith Backhouse	Helena Maud Zona
BDM Match (78%)	Reginald George Smith	Helena Maud Long
	💍 1903/291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. H. F. Long, Royburgh Street
Folio	03/5700
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. K. Elliott

647

14 November 1903

John William Walker
Emma Jane Beasley

John William Walker
Emma Beasley
💍 1903/5790

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

25
21

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
3 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street

03/5668

14 November 1903

Rev. W. B. Oliver

No	647
Date of Notice	14 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Walker	Emma Jane Beasley
BDM Match (85%)	John William Walker	Emma Beasley
	💍 1903/5790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street
Folio	03/5668
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Oliver

648

16 November 1903

Henry James Freeman
Terena Annie Watson

Henry James Freeman
Verena Annie Watson
💍 1903/6584

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker

24
25

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
15 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington

03/6590

16 November 1903

Rev. J. Dawson

No	648
Date of Notice	16 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Freeman	Terena Annie Watson
BDM Match (97%)	Henry James Freeman	Verena Annie Watson
	💍 1903/6584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	03/6590
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dawson

649

16 November 1903

Walter Russell Mangin
Ida Florence Stanbridge

Walter Russell Mangin
Ida Florence Stanbridge
💍 1903/288

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

22
19

Wellington
Wellington

22 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. N. Turner, Webb Street, Wellington

03/5697

Louisa McNade, mother of bride

16 November 1903

Mr. Nicholas Turner

No	649
Date of Notice	16 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Russell Mangin	Ida Florence Stanbridge
	💍 1903/288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. N. Turner, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	03/5697
Consent	Louisa McNade, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	16 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Mr. Nicholas Turner

650

16 November 1903

Edwin Francis Jones
Elizabeth May Best

Edwin Francis Jones
Elizabeth Mary Best
💍 1903/5699

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

27
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
7 years

St. Joseph's Church, Panchle Street

03/5657

16 November 1903

Rev. Thos. O'Shea

No	650
Date of Notice	16 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Francis Jones	Elizabeth May Best
BDM Match (97%)	Edwin Francis Jones	Elizabeth Mary Best
	💍 1903/5699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Panchle Street
Folio	03/5657
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. O'Shea

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 1903. 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).