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 128

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

12 January 1903

George Lawton
Ellen Jane Beer

George Lawton
Ellen Jane Beer
💍 1903/1525

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

38
30

Wellington
Wellington

38 years
6 years

Residence of Mr. George W. Beer, 29 Ohio Road, Wellington

03/731

12 January 1903

Rev W. C. Oliver

No	17
Date of Notice	12 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Lawton	Ellen Jane Beer
	💍 1903/1525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	38 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. George W. Beer, 29 Ohio Road, Wellington
Folio	03/731
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev W. C. Oliver

12 January 1903

James Reid
Sophia May Jones

James Reid
Sophia May Jones
💍 1903/775

Divorced (Decree absolute 19 June 1902)
Spinster

Farmer

56
21

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

03/611

12 January 1903

C. C. Hodgkins, the Deputy Registrar

No	18
Date of Notice	12 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Reid	Sophia May Jones
	💍 1903/775
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 19 June 1902)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	56	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	03/611
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1903
Officiating Minister	C. C. Hodgkins, the Deputy Registrar

12 January 1903

Arthur William Press
Edith Catherine Ward

Arthur William Press
Edith Catherine Ward
💍 1903/1645

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Dressmaker

24
25

Wellington
Wellington

24 years
24 years

St. Paul's pro Cathedral, Wellington

03/895

12 January 1903

Rev H. J. Stealey

No	19
Date of Notice	12 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Press	Edith Catherine Ward
	💍 1903/1645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Dressmaker
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	03/895
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev H. J. Stealey

12 January 1903

James Feetham
Emma Eliza Ricketts

James Feetham
Emma Eliza Ricketts
💍 1903/848

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
18

Johnsonville
Johnsonville

17 years
18 years

Church of England, Johnsonville

03/671

John Ricketts, Father

12 January 1903

Rev John Vosper

No	20
Date of Notice	12 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Feetham	Emma Eliza Ricketts
	💍 1903/848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	17 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Johnsonville
Folio	03/671
Consent	John Ricketts, Father
Date of Certificate	12 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev John Vosper

13 January 1903

William Elisha Bowley
Marion Annie Susan Fisher

William Elisha Brutlay
Marion Annie Susan Fisher
💍 1903/3128

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

38
28

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
28 years

Residence of C. E. Fisher, Pipitea Street, Wellington

03/140

13 January 1903

Rev J. R. Gleasson

No	21
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Elisha Bowley	Marion Annie Susan Fisher
BDM Match (91%)	William Elisha Brutlay	Marion Annie Susan Fisher
	💍 1903/3128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of C. E. Fisher, Pipitea Street, Wellington
Folio	03/140
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. Gleasson

13 January 1903

Walter Albert Edward Butt
Ada Clara Haines

Walter Albert Edward Butt
Ada Clara Haines
💍 1903/861

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Tailoress

24
24

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

03/660

13 January 1903

Rev W. G. Waters

No	22
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Albert Edward Butt	Ada Clara Haines
	💍 1903/861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Tailoress
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	03/660
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev W. G. Waters

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).