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 127

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

8 January 1903

Claud William Wakelin
Miriam Elizabeth Wakeham

Claud William Wakelin
Miriam Elizabeth Wakeham
💍 1903/1558

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
31

Petone
Petone

2 years
5 years

Wesleyan Methodist Church, Petone

03/732

8 January 1903

Rev D. J. Murray

No	12
Date of Notice	8 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claud William Wakelin	Miriam Elizabeth Wakeham
	💍 1903/1558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	31
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Methodist Church, Petone
Folio	03/732
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev D. J. Murray

8 January 1903

Walter Arthur Churchill
Nellie Hutson

Walter Arthur Churchill
Nellie Hutson
💍 1903/1520

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter Carrier

24
18

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
18 years

Residence of Peter Hutson, Tasman St, Wellington

03/726

Peter Hutson, Father

8 January 1903

Rev G. Bond

No	13
Date of Notice	8 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Arthur Churchill	Nellie Hutson
	💍 1903/1520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter Carrier
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Peter Hutson, Tasman St, Wellington
Folio	03/726
Consent	Peter Hutson, Father
Date of Certificate	8 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Bond

8 January 1903

David Rowland
Fanny Salt

David Rowland
Fanny Salt
💍 1903/853

Widower
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

59
45

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
2 days

St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/658

8 January 1903

Rev W. B. Waters

No	14
Date of Notice	8 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Rowland	Fanny Salt
	💍 1903/853
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	59	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	2 days
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/658
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev W. B. Waters

9 January 1903

Frederick William Abbott
Annie Eliza Ritchie

Frederick William Abbott
Ann Eliza Ritchie
💍 1903/1127

Bachelor
Spinster

Lieutenant Colonel N. Z. M.

37
30

Wellington
Vogeltown, Wellington

5 days
2 years

Residence of P. G. Ritchie, Vogeltown

03/1448

9 January 1903

Rev E. S. Ogg

No	15
Date of Notice	9 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Abbott	Annie Eliza Ritchie
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick William Abbott	Ann Eliza Ritchie
	💍 1903/1127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lieutenant Colonel N. Z. M.
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Vogeltown, Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of P. G. Ritchie, Vogeltown
Folio	03/1448
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev E. S. Ogg

9 January 1903

Joseph Harrison
Elizabeth Angelina Sievers

Joseph Harrison
Elizabeth Angelina Sievers
💍 1903/1531

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
24

Wellington
South Mahara

6 weeks
24 years

Roman Catholic Church, South Mahara

03/714

9 January 1903

Rev John Holley

No	16
Date of Notice	9 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Harrison	Elizabeth Angelina Sievers
	💍 1903/1531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	South Mahara
Length of Residence	6 weeks	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, South Mahara
Folio	03/714
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev John Holley

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).