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 085

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1903 Registrar F. 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

329

8 June 1903

Charles Bethel
Rachel Liney Ann Mainwaring

Charles Bethell
Rachel Lucy Mainwaring
💍 1903/128

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Machinist

35
24

Wellington
Wellington

6 Months
2 years

St. James Church, Manse, Revans Street

03/2253

8 June 1903

Rev. Wm. Shirer

No	329
Date of Notice	8 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bethel	Rachel Liney Ann Mainwaring
BDM Match (84%)	Charles Bethell	Rachel Lucy Mainwaring
	💍 1903/128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Machinist
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 Months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Manse, Revans Street
Folio	03/2253
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Shirer

330

9 June 1903

Richard William Kelson
Mary Janet Fisher

Richard William Kelson
Mary Janet Fisher
💍 1903/2554

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

47
46

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 days

St. Peters Church

03/2206

9 June 1903

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	330
Date of Notice	9 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard William Kelson	Mary Janet Fisher
	💍 1903/2554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	47	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church
Folio	03/2206
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

331

9 June 1903

Frederick Malcolm Turner
Agnes Eleanor Quarrie

Frederick Malcolm Turner
Agnes Eleanor Quarrie
💍 1903/2592

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman

27
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
9 years

St. Johns Church

03/2204

9 June 1903

Rev. J. Paterson

No	331
Date of Notice	9 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Malcolm Turner	Agnes Eleanor Quarrie
	💍 1903/2592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church
Folio	03/2204
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

332

9 June 1903

Charles Pollard
Eliza Harris

Charles Pollard
Eliza Harris
💍 1903/2553

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
4 years

St. Peters Church, Wellington

03/0205

9 June 1903

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	332
Date of Notice	9 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Pollard	Eliza Harris
	💍 1903/2553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	03/0205
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

333

10 June 1903

George Britton Wratten
Frances Mathilda Jane Sutherland

George Britton Wratten
Frances Matilda Jane Sutherland
💍 1903/2564

Bachelor
Widow

Sheep Farmer

34
33

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St. Thomas's Church, Riddiford Street

03/2215

10 June 1903

Rev. John Walker

No	333
Date of Notice	10 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Britton Wratten	Frances Mathilda Jane Sutherland
BDM Match (98%)	George Britton Wratten	Frances Matilda Jane Sutherland
	💍 1903/2564
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Thomas's Church, Riddiford Street
Folio	03/2215
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Walker

334

10 June 1903

William James Gross
Margaret Buchanan Barr

William James Cross
Margaret Buchanan Barr
💍 1903/119

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

6 Months
10 Months

Registrars Office, Wellington

03/2174

10 June 1903

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	334
Date of Notice	10 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Gross	Margaret Buchanan Barr
BDM Match (97%)	William James Cross	Margaret Buchanan Barr
	💍 1903/119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 Months	10 Months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	03/2174
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1903
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

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).