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 141

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

16 February 1903

Alexander James
Rose Hannah Scott

Alexander James
Rose Hannah Scott
💍 1903/857

Alexander James Hastie
Grace McIntosh Scott
💍 1904/660

Bachelor
Spinster

Advertising Agent

35
24

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
24 years

Residence of Simon Scott, 127 Cuba Street, Wellington

03/679

16 February 1903

Rev. J. K. Eliott

No	88
Date of Notice	16 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander James	Rose Hannah Scott
	💍 1903/857
BDM Match (59%)	Alexander James Hastie	Grace McIntosh Scott
	💍 1904/660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Advertising Agent
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Simon Scott, 127 Cuba Street, Wellington
Folio	03/679
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Eliott

16 February 1903

Arthur Kale
Ettie Maidment

Arthur Kale
Ettie Edith Maidment
💍 1903/1587

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
19

Petone
Petone

3 years
19 years

Residence of Arthur Kale, Richmond Street, Petone

03/696

No person resident within the district to give consent

2 March 1903

Rev. W. Thomson

No	89
Date of Notice	16 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Kale	Ettie Maidment
BDM Match (85%)	Arthur Kale	Ettie Edith Maidment
	💍 1903/1587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Arthur Kale, Richmond Street, Petone
Folio	03/696
Consent	No person resident within the district to give consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Thomson

17 February 1903

Luke McGann
Annie Zara

Luke McGann
Annie Zala
💍 1903/1511

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent
Hospital Nurse

28
34

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
2 weeks

Sacred Heart Church, Wellington

03/718

17 February 1903

Rev. John Holley

No	90
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Luke McGann	Annie Zara
BDM Match (95%)	Luke McGann	Annie Zala
	💍 1903/1511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent	Hospital Nurse
Age	28	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Wellington
Folio	03/718
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Holley

17 February 1903

Arthur Cromie
Matilda Elizabeth Shotter

Arthur Cromie
Matilda Elizabeth Shotter
💍 1903/2566

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Dressmaker

31
29

Shelly Bay
Wellington

6 years
5 years

St. Marks Church, Wellington

03/794

17 February 1903

Rev. R. Coffey

No	91
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Cromie	Matilda Elizabeth Shotter
	💍 1903/2566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Dressmaker
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Shelly Bay	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	03/794
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Coffey

17 February 1903

John Sharpe
Edith Journnax

John Sharpe
Edith Jounnax
💍 1903/1586

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
25

Petone
Wadestown

9 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Petone

03/695

17 February 1903

Rev. A. Thomson

No	92
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sharpe	Edith Journnax
BDM Match (96%)	John Sharpe	Edith Jounnax
	💍 1903/1586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wadestown
Length of Residence	9 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Petone
Folio	03/695
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

20 February 1903

Richard Herbert Burke
Gertrude Mary Brown

Richard Herbert Burke
Gertrude Mary Brown
💍 1903/858

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

33
29

Wellington
Melbourne

5 months
29 years

Presbyterian Manse, Woolcombe Street, Wellington

03/680

20 February 1903

Rev. D. Paterson

No	93
Date of Notice	20 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Herbert Burke	Gertrude Mary Brown
	💍 1903/858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Melbourne
Length of Residence	5 months	29 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Woolcombe Street, Wellington
Folio	03/680
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Paterson

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).