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 125

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Frederick William 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

5 January 1903

Alexander Young
Agnes Reid Anderson Millar

Alexander Young
Agnes Reid Anderson Millar
💍 1903/850

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Driver
Domestic Servant

27
25

Wellington
Wellington

15 months
9 months

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

03/673

5 January 1903

Rev. S. K. Elliott

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Young	Agnes Reid Anderson Millar
	💍 1903/850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Driver	Domestic Servant
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	03/673
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. K. Elliott

5 January 1903

Michael Geary
Mabel Laura Sharpe

Michael Geary
Mabel Laura Sharpe
💍 1903/1567

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic Servant

31
21

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
13 years

Residence of Mr. Sharpe, 12 Coombe St., Wellington

03/751

5 January 1903

Rev. G. Dallaston

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Geary	Mabel Laura Sharpe
	💍 1903/1567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic Servant
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Sharpe, 12 Coombe St., Wellington
Folio	03/751
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Dallaston

5 January 1903

Hubert Powell
Grace Harrison

Hubert Powell
Grace Harrison
💍 1903/773

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

30
20

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
5 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

03/609

Mark Harrison, Father

5 January 1903

G. G. Hodgkins, The Deputy Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Powell	Grace Harrison
	💍 1903/773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	03/609
Consent	Mark Harrison, Father
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, The Deputy Registrar

5 January 1903

Alexander Riddell
Hannah Cressall Newman

Alexander Riddell
Hannah Cressall Newman
💍 1903/870

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Music Teacher

32
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
3 1/2 years

Scots Church, Abel Smith Street, Wellington

03/760

5 January 1903

Rev. W. Thomson

No	4
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Riddell	Hannah Cressall Newman
	💍 1903/870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Music Teacher
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Scots Church, Abel Smith Street, Wellington
Folio	03/760
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Thomson

5 January 1903

Thomas Maxwell Milligan
Mary Anne Forsyth

Thomas Maxwell Milligan
Mary Ann Forsyth
💍 1903/1644

Widower
Widow

Engine Driver

36
41

Wellington
Wellington

1 3/4 years
15 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

03/894

5 January 1903

Rev. A. J. Stealey

No	5
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Maxwell Milligan	Mary Anne Forsyth
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Maxwell Milligan	Mary Ann Forsyth
	💍 1903/1644
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	36	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 3/4 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	03/894
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Stealey

6 January 1903

Victor Joseph Rhodes
Florence Charlotte Busch

Victor Joseph Rhodes
Florence Charlotte Busch
💍 1903/774

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

03/610

6 January 1903

G. G. Hodgkins, The Deputy Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	6 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Joseph Rhodes	Florence Charlotte Busch
	💍 1903/774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	03/610
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1903
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, The Deputy 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).