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 069

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

421

20 July 1903

Daniel Robertson
Sarah Eliza Heyman

Daniel Robertson
Sarah Eliza Heyman
💍 1903/178

Bachelor
Widow

Butcher's Labourer

27
33

Petone
Petone

9 months
12 months

Presbyterian Church

03/3954

20 July 1903

Rev A. Thomson

No	421
Date of Notice	20 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Robertson	Sarah Eliza Heyman
	💍 1903/178
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Butcher's Labourer
Age	27	33
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	9 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	03/3954
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Thomson

422

20 July 1903

George Edward Brooker
Ethel May Pell

George Edward Brooker
Ethel May Pell
💍 1903/4225

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

27
19

Wellington
Karori

10 years
10 years

St. Mary's Church, Karori

03/3932

Robert Thomas Pell, Father

20 July 1903

Rev A. H. Hansell

No	422
Date of Notice	20 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Brooker	Ethel May Pell
	💍 1903/4225
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Karori
Folio	03/3932
Consent	Robert Thomas Pell, Father
Date of Certificate	20 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev A. H. Hansell

423

21 July 1903

William Main
Ada Elizabeth Jane Cunningham

William Main
Ada Elizabeth Jane Cunningham
💍 1903/4818

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

27
19

Wellington
Wellington

7 months
6 months

Scots Manse, Abel Smith Street, Wellington

03/4455

No person resident in colony to give consent

4 August 1903

Rev Wm. Thomson

No	423
Date of Notice	21 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Main	Ada Elizabeth Jane Cunningham
	💍 1903/4818
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Scots Manse, Abel Smith Street, Wellington
Folio	03/4455
Consent	No person resident in colony to give consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev Wm. Thomson

424

21 July 1903

William Henry Boy
Alice May Read

William Henry Coy
Alice May Read
💍 1903/187

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

31
26

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
26 years

St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/3939

21 July 1903

Rev G. P. Davys

No	424
Date of Notice	21 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Boy	Alice May Read
BDM Match (97%)	William Henry Coy	Alice May Read
	💍 1903/187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/3939
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev G. P. Davys

425

23 July 1903

Henry Grimsdell Bullen
Frances Marion Annkey Manfield

Henry Grimsdell Bullen
Frances Marion Huntley Manfield
💍 1903/181

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Hospital Nurse

31
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St. Peters Church, Wellington

03/3938

23 July 1903

Rev G. P. Davys

No	425
Date of Notice	23 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Grimsdell Bullen	Frances Marion Annkey Manfield
BDM Match (94%)	Henry Grimsdell Bullen	Frances Marion Huntley Manfield
	💍 1903/181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Hospital Nurse
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	03/3938
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev G. P. Davys

426

23 July 1903

Charles Alexander Lawrence
Martha Smyth

Charles Alexander Lawrence
Martha Smyth
💍 1903/5456

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

30
31

Wellington
Wellington

7 years 6 months
3 days

Residence of Mr. Lawrence, 63 Thorndon Quay, Wellington

03/4771

23 July 1903

Rev E. S. Ogg

No	426
Date of Notice	23 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alexander Lawrence	Martha Smyth
	💍 1903/5456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years 6 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Lawrence, 63 Thorndon Quay, Wellington
Folio	03/4771
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev E. S. Ogg

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).