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 123

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar J. W. Meausfield

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

126

9 March 1903

Alfred Henry Love Bull
Eva Caroline Burnett

Alfred Henry Love Bull
Eva Caroline Burnett
💍 1903/1129

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Photographic Retoucher

27
28

Wellington
Wellington

8 months
7 years

Residence of Mr Burnett, 19 Goring Street, Wellington

03/1450

9 March 1903

Rev. G. S. Ogg

No	126
Date of Notice	9 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Love Bull	Eva Caroline Burnett
	💍 1903/1129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Photographic Retoucher
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Burnett, 19 Goring Street, Wellington
Folio	03/1450
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Ogg

127

9 March 1903

Vincent Robert Sissons Meredith
Hilda May Staples

Vincent Robert Sissons Meredith
Hilda May Staples
💍 1903/1673

Bachelor
Spinster

Landing Waiter, H. M. Customs

26
24

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
24 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

03/901

9 March 1903

Rev. J. H. Sprott

No	127
Date of Notice	9 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vincent Robert Sissons Meredith	Hilda May Staples
	💍 1903/1673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Landing Waiter, H. M. Customs
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	03/901
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sprott

128

9 March 1903

Donald George Lousie
Ada Hall

Donald George Lourie
Ada Hall
💍 1903/1571

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

22
21

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
11 years

The Baptist Church, 11 Vivian Street, Wellington

03/754

9 March 1903

Rev. E. Wallaston

No	128
Date of Notice	9 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald George Lousie	Ada Hall
BDM Match (98%)	Donald George Lourie	Ada Hall
	💍 1903/1571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	The Baptist Church, 11 Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	03/754
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Wallaston

129

9 March 1903

Harper Phillip Hugo
Annie Walker McGregor

Harper Phillip Hugo
Annie Walker McGregor
💍 1903/1583

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

25
26

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
26 years

Residence of Mr. Wallace, 8 Buller Street, Wellington

03/692

9 March 1903

Rev. J. Paterson

No	129
Date of Notice	9 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harper Phillip Hugo	Annie Walker McGregor
	💍 1903/1583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Wallace, 8 Buller Street, Wellington
Folio	03/692
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

130

10 March 1903

Henry Fox Chaffey
Laura Mary Adcock

Henry Fox Chaffey
Laura Mary Adcock
💍 1903/1674

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

34
34

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

03/902

10 March 1903

Rev. J. H. Sprott

No	130
Date of Notice	10 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Fox Chaffey	Laura Mary Adcock
	💍 1903/1674
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	03/902
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sprott

131

11 March 1903

Alexander Johnston Walsh
Beatrice Ellen Lark

Alexander Johnston Walsh
Beatrice Ellen Lark
💍 1903/806

Bachelor
Spinster

Lithographer

38
26

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
9 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

03/641

11 March 1903

The Registrar

No	131
Date of Notice	11 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Johnston Walsh	Beatrice Ellen Lark
	💍 1903/806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lithographer
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	03/641
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1903
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).