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 137

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

31 January 1903

George Philp
Florence Jane Corbett Galloway

George Philp
Florence Jane Corbett Galloway
💍 1903/811

Bachelor
Spinster

Fellmonger

25
23

Petone
Petone

12 years
3 months

Registrars Office Wellington

03/623

31 January 1903

W. Mansfield, The Registrar

No	64
Date of Notice	31 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Philp	Florence Jane Corbett Galloway
	💍 1903/811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fellmonger
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	12 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	03/623
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1903
Officiating Minister	W. Mansfield, The Registrar

2 February 1903

Henry Montagne Field
Margaret Isabella Campbell

Henry Montague Field
Margaret Isabell Campbell
💍 1903/1602

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

38
38

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
life

Residence of James Campbell "Darkeith" Webb Street Wellington

03/687

2 February 1903

Rev J. Paterson

No	65
Date of Notice	2 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Montagne Field	Margaret Isabella Campbell
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Montague Field	Margaret Isabell Campbell
	💍 1903/1602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	38	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	life
Marriage Place	Residence of James Campbell "Darkeith" Webb Street Wellington
Folio	03/687
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson

2 February 1903

Arthur James Smith
Selina May Crowther

Arthur James Smith
Selma May Crowther
💍 1903/1596

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Shop Assistant

27
19

Wellington
Hutt

27 years
5 years

Residence of A. J. Smith 80 Taranaki Street Wellington

03/704

Martha Elizabeth Crowther, Mother

2 February 1903

Rev W. Shirer

No	66
Date of Notice	2 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Smith	Selina May Crowther
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur James Smith	Selma May Crowther
	💍 1903/1596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Shop Assistant
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Hutt
Length of Residence	27 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of A. J. Smith 80 Taranaki Street Wellington
Folio	03/704
Consent	Martha Elizabeth Crowther, Mother
Date of Certificate	2 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Shirer

3 February 1903

Alfred James Sugden
Lucy Elizabeth Louth

Alfred James Sugden
Lucy Elizabeth Louth
💍 1903/1128

Widower
Divorced

Storekeeper

68
54

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
17 years

St. Andrews Church The Terrace Wellington

03/1449

3 February 1903

Rev G. S. Ogg

No	67
Date of Notice	3 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Sugden	Lucy Elizabeth Louth
	💍 1903/1128
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	68	54
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church The Terrace Wellington
Folio	03/1449
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev G. S. Ogg

3 February 1903

William John Gray
Clara Edith Elley

William John Gray
Clara Edith Elley
💍 1903/813

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
4 weeks

Registrars Office Wellington

03/625

3 February 1903

W. Mansfield, The Registrar

No	68
Date of Notice	3 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Gray	Clara Edith Elley
	💍 1903/813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Wellington
Folio	03/625
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1903
Officiating Minister	W. Mansfield, The 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).