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 142

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar J. H. 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

20 February 1903

Thomas William Garrett
Lucy Ellen Aspin

Thomas William Garrett
Lucy Ellen Aspin
💍 1903/2611

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
5 years

Residence of Rev W. J. Elliott, Goring Street, Wellington

03/2294

20 February 1903

Rev W. J. Elliott

No	94
Date of Notice	20 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Garrett	Lucy Ellen Aspin
	💍 1903/2611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev W. J. Elliott, Goring Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2294
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev W. J. Elliott

20 February 1903

William Waghorn Beauchamp
Clara Liez

William Waghorn Beauchamp
Clara Liez
💍 1903/1521

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
School Teacher

28
26

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
24 years

Residence of the Bride, 168 Adelaide Road, Wellington

03/727

20 February 1903

Rev George Bond

No	95
Date of Notice	20 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Waghorn Beauchamp	Clara Liez
BDM Match (98%)	William Waghorn Beauchamp	Clara Liez
	💍 1903/1521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	School Teacher
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Bride, 168 Adelaide Road, Wellington
Folio	03/727
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev George Bond

21 February 1903

Henry Jones
Eliza Fahey

Henry Jones
Eliza Fahey
💍 1903/1672

Widower (11 September 1900)
Spinster

Railway Goods Foreman

37
28

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
3 years

St Pauls Pro Cathedral, Wellington

03/900

21 February 1903

Rev J. A. Sprott

No	96
Date of Notice	21 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Jones	Eliza Fahey
	💍 1903/1672
Condition	Widower (11 September 1900)	Spinster
Profession	Railway Goods Foreman
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	03/900
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. A. Sprott

23 February 1903

Ernest Robert Rivett
Elsie Mabelle Helena Johnson

Ernest Robert Rivett
Elsie Mabelle Helena Johnson
💍 1903/1597

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
19

Wellington
Wellington

16 months
Life

Residence of Peter Johnson, 14 Garrett Street, Wellington

03/705

Peter Johnson, Father

23 February 1903

Rev John Dawson

No	97
Date of Notice	23 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Robert Rivett	Elsie Mabelle Helena Johnson
	💍 1903/1597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 months	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Peter Johnson, 14 Garrett Street, Wellington
Folio	03/705
Consent	Peter Johnson, Father
Date of Certificate	23 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev John Dawson

23 February 1903

Huwiller Pankraz
Philomena Bilgeri

Huwiler Paukraz
Philomena Bilgeri
💍 1903/1510

Bachelor
Spinster

Locksmith

28
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
3 days

Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington

03/717

23 February 1903

Rev W. J. Lewis

No	98
Date of Notice	23 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Huwiller Pankraz	Philomena Bilgeri
BDM Match (94%)	Huwiler Paukraz	Philomena Bilgeri
	💍 1903/1510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Locksmith
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	03/717
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev W. J. Lewis

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).