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 040

District of WELLINGTON Quarter ending 31 December 1903

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

572

6 October 1903

Ernest Francis Stibbs
Edith Mary Woolcott

Ernest Francis Stubbs
Edith Mary Woolcott
💍 1903/5687

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
14 years

St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/5576

6 October 1903

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	572
Date of Notice	6 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Francis Stibbs	Edith Mary Woolcott
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Francis Stubbs	Edith Mary Woolcott
	💍 1903/5687
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/5576
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

573

7 October 1903

James Brinton Slattery
Annie Teresa Slattery

James Brunton
Annie Teresa Slattery
💍 1903/5718

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
10 days

Residence of Mr. Slattery, 58B Vivian Street, Wellington

03/5646

7 October 1903

Rev. J. O'Shea

No	573
Date of Notice	7 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brinton Slattery	Annie Teresa Slattery
BDM Match (77%)	James Brunton	Annie Teresa Slattery
	💍 1903/5718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Slattery, 58B Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	03/5646
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Shea

574

8 October 1903

Walter Edward Batt
Beatrice Mary Hepkin

Walter Edward Catt
Beatrice Mary Hipkin
💍 1903/5688

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner

38
32

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
1 day

St. Peters Church, Wellington

03/5577

8 October 1903

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	574
Date of Notice	8 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edward Batt	Beatrice Mary Hepkin
BDM Match (95%)	Walter Edward Catt	Beatrice Mary Hipkin
	💍 1903/5688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	1 day
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	03/5577
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

575

8 October 1903

Leonard Vincent Stewart
May Bott

Leonard Vincent Stewart
May Bott
💍 1903/269

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Machinist

21
20

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. Bott, Park Street, Wellington

03/5697

William James Bott, father

8 October 1903

Mr. A. J. Turner

No	575
Date of Notice	8 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Vincent Stewart	May Bott
	💍 1903/269
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Machinist
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Bott, Park Street, Wellington
Folio	03/5697
Consent	William James Bott, father
Date of Certificate	8 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Mr. A. J. Turner

576

9 October 1903

Martin Keegan
Margaret Gertrude George

Martin Keegan
Margaret Gertrude George
💍 1903/5719

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

27
26

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
26 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

03/5647

9 October 1903

Rev. J. O'Shea

No	576
Date of Notice	9 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Keegan	Margaret Gertrude George
	💍 1903/5719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	03/5647
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. 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).