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 135

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

27 January 1903

Edwin Rigby
Emma Foster

Edwin Rigby
Emma Foster
💍 1903/784

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Fitter

29
27

Petone
Petone

4 months
4 months

Registrars Office, Wellington

03/619

27 January 1903

F. W. Mansfield, The Registrar

No	53
Date of Notice	27 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Rigby	Emma Foster
	💍 1903/784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Fitter
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	03/619
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1903
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, The Registrar

28 January 1903

Robert Wishart
Charlotte Elizabeth McElwain

Robert Wishart
Charlotte Elizabeth McElwain
💍 1903/863

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
10 days

St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/662

28 January 1903

Rev. G. W. J. Maclaverty

No	54
Date of Notice	28 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Wishart	Charlotte Elizabeth McElwain
	💍 1903/863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/662
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. J. Maclaverty

28 January 1903

James William Taylor
Mary Ellen Welch

James William Taylor
Mary Ellen Welch
💍 1903/785

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
23

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
3 days

Registrars Office, Wellington

03/620

28 January 1903

F. W. Mansfield, The Registrar

No	55
Date of Notice	28 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Taylor	Mary Ellen Welch
	💍 1903/785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	03/620
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1903
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, The Registrar

28 January 1903

Michael McMahon
Ellen Lucy Oliver

Michael McMahon
Ellen Lucy Oliver
💍 1903/1514

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
26

Wellington
Wellington

14 months
15 months

St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott St, Wellington

03/721

28 January 1903

Rev. J. O'Shea

No	56
Date of Notice	28 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael McMahon	Ellen Lucy Oliver
	💍 1903/1514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 months	15 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott St, Wellington
Folio	03/721
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Shea

28 January 1903

Ernest John Browne
Madeline Adamson

Ernest John Browne
Madeline Adamson
💍 1903/1595

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

27
26

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
12 months

St. James Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington

03/703

28 January 1903

Rev. Wm. Shirer

No	57
Date of Notice	28 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Browne	Madeline Adamson
	💍 1903/1595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington
Folio	03/703
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Shirer

28 January 1903

Harry Leonard Godber
Annie Wick Linton

Harry Leonard Godber
Annie Dick Linton
💍 1903/864

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
26

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
3 years

St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/663

28 January 1903

Rev. G. W. J. Maclaverty

No	58
Date of Notice	28 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Leonard Godber	Annie Wick Linton
BDM Match (97%)	Harry Leonard Godber	Annie Dick Linton
	💍 1903/864
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/663
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. J. Maclaverty

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).