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 046

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1903 Registrar W. 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

543

22 September 1903

John William Solacka
Louise Sophie Frith

John William Black
Louise Sophia Frith
💍 1903/5885

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

28
22

Wellington
Wellington

15 years
14 years

St. Marks Church

03/5879

22 September 1903

Rev. R. Coffey

No	543
Date of Notice	22 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Solacka	Louise Sophie Frith
BDM Match (90%)	John William Black	Louise Sophia Frith
	💍 1903/5885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church
Folio	03/5879
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Coffey

544

22 September 1903

Spencer Frederick Parsloe
Minnie Hatchard

Spencer Frederick Parsloe
Minnie Hatchard
💍 1903/4252

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

20
20

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
18 years

Residence of J. H. Hatchard, Oxford Terrace, Wellington

03/3984

Isabella Parsloe, Mother; James Henry Hatchard, Father; Mother

22 September 1903

Rev. Wm. Shirer

No	544
Date of Notice	22 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Spencer Frederick Parsloe	Minnie Hatchard
	💍 1903/4252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. H. Hatchard, Oxford Terrace, Wellington
Folio	03/3984
Consent	Isabella Parsloe, Mother; James Henry Hatchard, Father; Mother
Date of Certificate	22 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Shirer

545

22 September 1903

Arthur Lagden Haylock
Annie Elizabeth Whitton

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Widower (22 October 1899)
Spinster

Draughtsman

43
36

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
25 years

St. Marks Church

03/3977

22 September 1903

Rev. R. Coffey

No	545
Date of Notice	22 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Lagden Haylock	Annie Elizabeth Whitton
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Widower (22 October 1899)	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	43	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church
Folio	03/3977
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Coffey

546

23 September 1903

Wallace Cecil James
Louisa Phillips

Wallace Cecil James
Louisa Phillips
💍 1903/171

Walter Cook
Louisa Phillips
💍 1904/673

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

20
20

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
6 years

St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/3946

Thomas James, Father; Agnes Phillips, Mother

23 September 1903

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	546
Date of Notice	23 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace Cecil James	Louisa Phillips
	💍 1903/171
BDM Match (63%)	Walter Cook	Louisa Phillips
	💍 1904/673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/3946
Consent	Thomas James, Father; Agnes Phillips, Mother
Date of Certificate	23 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

547

23 September 1903

George Arthur Fuller
Elizabeth Margaret Durnett

George Arthur Fuller
Elizabeth Margaret Durnett
💍 1903/4237

Divorced (Decree absolute 4 October 1897)
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

26
20

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
5 days

Registrars Office

03/3919

William Augustus Durnett

23 September 1903

W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	547
Date of Notice	23 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Fuller	Elizabeth Margaret Durnett
	💍 1903/4237
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 4 October 1897)	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	03/3919
Consent	William Augustus Durnett
Date of Certificate	23 September 1903
Officiating Minister	W. Mansfield, Registrar

548

24 September 1903

William McGuire
Maud Robin

William McGuire
Maud Robin
💍 1903/4264

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
16 years

Residence of Mr. G. Harris, Brougham Street, Wellington

03/4008

24 September 1903

Rev. W. N. Hall

No	548
Date of Notice	24 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McGuire	Maud Robin
	💍 1903/4264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. G. Harris, Brougham Street, Wellington
Folio	03/4008
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. N. Hall

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).