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 140

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar F.W. 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

10 February 1903

William Henry Morgan
Ada Askew

William Henry Morgan
Ada Askew
💍 1903/795

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
30

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
2 years 6 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

03/631

10 February 1903

F.W. Mansfield, The Registrar

No	82
Date of Notice	10 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Morgan	Ada Askew
	💍 1903/795
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	2 years 6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	03/631
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1903
Officiating Minister	F.W. Mansfield, The Registrar

10 February 1903

George Robert Nicol Wright
Maud Archdall Raymond

George Robert Niel Wright
Maud Archdall Raymond
💍 1903/1871

Widower
Spinster

Clerk

48
27

Wellington
Timaru

45 years
24 years

St Mary's Church

03/1141

10 February 1903

Rev. Archd. Harper

No	83
Date of Notice	10 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robert Nicol Wright	Maud Archdall Raymond
BDM Match (96%)	George Robert Niel Wright	Maud Archdall Raymond
	💍 1903/1871
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	48	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Timaru
Length of Residence	45 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church
Folio	03/1141
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archd. Harper

12 February 1903

Frederick John Hamarch
Dora Southee

Frederick John Hancock
Rosa Southee
💍 1903/796

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic Servant

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

03/632

12 February 1903

F.W. Mansfield, The Registrar

No	84
Date of Notice	12 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Hamarch	Dora Southee
BDM Match (83%)	Frederick John Hancock	Rosa Southee
	💍 1903/796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic Servant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	03/632
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1903
Officiating Minister	F.W. Mansfield, The Registrar

12 February 1903

William John Carey
Florence Emily Keeble

William John Carey
Florence Emily Keeble
💍 1903/1533

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

30
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
4 days

St. Peter's Church, Abel Smith Street

03/762

12 February 1903

Rev. Wm. Thomson

No	85
Date of Notice	12 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Carey	Florence Emily Keeble
	💍 1903/1533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Abel Smith Street
Folio	03/762
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Thomson

14 February 1903

Denis Hanratty
Julia Gotch

Denis Hauratty
Julia Gotch
💍 1903/1671

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

39
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
19 years

St. Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington

03/899

14 February 1903

Rev. J. H. Sprott

No	86
Date of Notice	14 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denis Hanratty	Julia Gotch
BDM Match (96%)	Denis Hauratty	Julia Gotch
	💍 1903/1671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	03/899
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sprott

16 February 1903

James Wilson
Jane Simm

James Wilson
Jane Simm
💍 1903/1605

Bachelor
Spinster

Presbyterian Clergyman

37
32

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
14 years

Residence of Mr. Wm. Simm, 86 Austin Street, Wellington

03/690

16 February 1903

Rev. James Paterson

No	87
Date of Notice	16 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wilson	Jane Simm
	💍 1903/1605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Presbyterian Clergyman
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Wm. Simm, 86 Austin Street, Wellington
Folio	03/690
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. James 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).