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 129

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

13 January 1903

George William Bowles
Mary Eeder

George William Bowles
Mary Elder
💍 1903/1518

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Weaver

33
25

Petone
Petone

4 years
16 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hutt

03/725

13 January 1903

Rev J. Lane

No	23
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Bowles	Mary Eeder
BDM Match (95%)	George William Bowles	Mary Elder
	💍 1903/1518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Weaver
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	4 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hutt
Folio	03/725
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Lane

13 January 1903

William James Hart
Helen Sewell

William James Hart
Helen Sewell
💍 1903/846

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
12 months

St. Thomas's Church, Newtown, Wellington

03/669

13 January 1903

Rev W. Ballachey

No	24
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Hart	Helen Sewell
	💍 1903/846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Thomas's Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	03/669
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Ballachey

14 January 1903

George Allan Oxspring
Lucy Catherine Chapman

George Alan Oxspring
Lucy Catherine Chapman
💍 1903/1513

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Saleswoman

27
22

Wellington
Wellington

15 months
12 months

St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington

03/720

14 January 1903

Rev J. O'Shea

No	25
Date of Notice	14 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Allan Oxspring	Lucy Catherine Chapman
BDM Match (98%)	George Alan Oxspring	Lucy Catherine Chapman
	💍 1903/1513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Saleswoman
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	03/720
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. O'Shea

15 January 1903

John Chalmers Goldie
Lydia Black Barkley

John Chalmers Goldie
Lydia Black Barkley
💍 1903/776

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
19

Petone
Petone

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office, Wellington

03/612

William Browne Barkley

15 January 1903

G. G. Hodgkins, The Deputy Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	15 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Chalmers Goldie	Lydia Black Barkley
	💍 1903/776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	03/612
Consent	William Browne Barkley
Date of Certificate	15 January 1903
Officiating Minister	G. G. Hodgkins, The Deputy Registrar

15 January 1903

Rema Ginsberg
Jane Levy

Rema Ginsberg
Jane Levy
💍 1903/1578

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith
Tailoress

23
17

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
3 weeks

Jewish Synagogue, The Terrace, Wellington

03/739

No person resident within the Colony to give consent

30 January 1903

Rev H. Van Staveren

No	27
Date of Notice	15 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rema Ginsberg	Jane Levy
	💍 1903/1578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith	Tailoress
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Jewish Synagogue, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	03/739
Consent	No person resident within the Colony to give consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev H. Van Staveren

16 January 1903

Louis Norman Warwick
Adelaide Rogers

Louis Norman Warwick
Adelaide Rodgers
💍 1903/1594

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Tailoress

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

26 years
23 years

Residence of W. N. Rogers, 9 Dock Street, Wellington

03/702

16 January 1903

Rev Wm. Shirer

No	28
Date of Notice	16 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Norman Warwick	Adelaide Rogers
BDM Match (97%)	Louis Norman Warwick	Adelaide Rodgers
	💍 1903/1594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Tailoress
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	26 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. N. Rogers, 9 Dock Street, Wellington
Folio	03/702
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev Wm. Shirer

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).