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 144

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1903

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

104

25 February 1903

Edward Charles Eastabrook
Emily Ellen Thwaites

Edward Charles Easterbrook
Emily Ellen Thwaites
💍 1903/1570

Widower
Widow

Draper

52
46

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
46 years

Residence of Mr. Thwaites, 7 Essex Street, Wellington

03/753

25 February 1903

Rev C. Wallaston

No	104
Date of Notice	25 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Charles Eastabrook	Emily Ellen Thwaites
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Charles Easterbrook	Emily Ellen Thwaites
	💍 1903/1570
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Draper
Age	52	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	46 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Thwaites, 7 Essex Street, Wellington
Folio	03/753
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev C. Wallaston

105

26 February 1903

William Hannibal Whyte
Ada Frances Miriam Garwood

William Hannibal Whyte
Ada Frances Miriam Cawood
💍 1903/1598

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mr. W. H. Smith, Hall Street, Wellington

03/706

26 February 1903

Rev W. Shirer

No	105
Date of Notice	26 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hannibal Whyte	Ada Frances Miriam Garwood
BDM Match (96%)	William Hannibal Whyte	Ada Frances Miriam Cawood
	💍 1903/1598
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. H. Smith, Hall Street, Wellington
Folio	03/706
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Shirer

106

26 February 1903

Francis Evenson Beamish
Blanche Helena Thorburn

Francis Evenson Beamish
Blanche Helena Thorburn
💍 1903/866

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
22

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
22 years

St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/665

26 February 1903

Rev G. W. S. Maclaverty

No	106
Date of Notice	26 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Evenson Beamish	Blanche Helena Thorburn
	💍 1903/866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/665
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev G. W. S. Maclaverty

107

27 February 1903

William Douglas Warden
Mary Ethel Sizer

William Douglas Warden
Mary Ethel Lizer
💍 1903/1599

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

28
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
4 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church

03/684

27 February 1903

Rev J. K. Eliott

No	107
Date of Notice	27 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Douglas Warden	Mary Ethel Sizer
BDM Match (97%)	William Douglas Warden	Mary Ethel Lizer
	💍 1903/1599
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church
Folio	03/684
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Eliott

108

28 February 1903

Albert John Allard Boone
Matilda Jane Pycroft

Albert John Allard Boone
Matilda Jane Pycroft
💍 1903/1568

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

42
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
10 years

Residence of J. Pycroft, 21 Revans Street, Wellington

03/752

28 February 1903

Rev C. Dallaston

No	108
Date of Notice	28 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Allard Boone	Matilda Jane Pycroft
	💍 1903/1568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	42	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Pycroft, 21 Revans Street, Wellington
Folio	03/752
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev C. Dallaston

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).