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 117

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

160

25 March 1903

James Albert Hickling
Annie Elizabeth Keatch

James Albert Hickling
Annie Elizabeth Keatch
💍 1903/1508

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
22

Wellington
Wellington

6 Months
7 years

Residence of Mr Hickling, Upper Adelaide Road, Wellington

03/707

25 March 1903

Rev. Wm. Shirer

No	160
Date of Notice	25 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Albert Hickling	Annie Elizabeth Keatch
	💍 1903/1508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 Months	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Hickling, Upper Adelaide Road, Wellington
Folio	03/707
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Shirer

161

26 March 1903

Herbert Louis James
Eleanor Elizabeth Flannagan

Herbert Louis James
Eleanor Elizabeth Flannagan
💍 1903/1228

Bachelor
Spinster

Librarian
Teacher

40 years
34 years

Khandallah
Wellington

2 1/2 years
12 years

Residence of the bride, 216 Taranaki Street, Wellington

03/2269

26 March 1903

Rev. J. O'Shea

No	161
Date of Notice	26 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Louis James	Eleanor Elizabeth Flannagan
	💍 1903/1228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Librarian	Teacher
Age	40 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Khandallah	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the bride, 216 Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2269
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Shea

162

26 March 1903

John Henry Taylor
Lavinia Marsh

John Harry Taylor
Lavinia Marsh
💍 1903/1580

Widower
Divorcee

Dyer

50
34

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
3 1/2 years

Congregational Church, Wellington Terrace, Wellington

03/742

26 March 1903

Rev. J. R. Glasson

No	162
Date of Notice	26 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Taylor	Lavinia Marsh
BDM Match (94%)	John Harry Taylor	Lavinia Marsh
	💍 1903/1580
Condition	Widower	Divorcee
Profession	Dyer
Age	50	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Wellington Terrace, Wellington
Folio	03/742
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Glasson

163

26 March 1903

Frederick William Stuart
Evelyn Ida Alice Davies

Frederick William Stuart
Evalyn Ida Alice Davies
💍 1903/1565

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
2 1/2 years

Residence of Mr J. W. Davies, 7 Dock Street, Wellington

03/749

26 March 1903

Mr. A. F. Turner

No	163
Date of Notice	26 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Stuart	Evelyn Ida Alice Davies
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick William Stuart	Evalyn Ida Alice Davies
	💍 1903/1565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. W. Davies, 7 Dock Street, Wellington
Folio	03/749
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Mr. A. F. Turner

164

28 March 1903

Walter Christie
Laura Davies

Walter Christie
Laura Davies
💍 1903/1585

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

28
28

Wellington
Wellington

1 1/2 years
3 days

Residence of Mr P. Bennett, 29 Woolcombe Street, Wellington

03/694

28 March 1903

Rev. J. Patterson

No	164
Date of Notice	28 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Christie	Laura Davies
	💍 1903/1585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr P. Bennett, 29 Woolcombe Street, Wellington
Folio	03/694
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Patterson

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).