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 107

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

207

7 April 1903

Thomas Serinshaw
Eva Beatrice Fletcher

Thomas Scrimshaw
Eva Beatrice Fletcher
💍 1903/2586

Widower
Spinster

Farm Manager

27
20

Trentham
Upper Hutt

15 years
10 years

St Johns Church, Trentham

03/2218

Thomas Fletcher, Father

7 April 1903

Rev. G. J. Smith

No	207
Date of Notice	7 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Serinshaw	Eva Beatrice Fletcher
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Scrimshaw	Eva Beatrice Fletcher
	💍 1903/2586
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Trentham
Folio	03/2218
Consent	Thomas Fletcher, Father
Date of Certificate	7 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Smith

208

8 April 1903

Edward Collin
Mary Morison

Edward Collins
Mary Morison
💍 1903/2621

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

20
17

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
3 years

Salvation Army Citadel, Jessie Street, Wellington

03/2329

Emma Jane Collin, Mother; Mary Morison, Mother

8 April 1903

Major Spargo

No	208
Date of Notice	8 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Collin	Mary Morison
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Collins	Mary Morison
	💍 1903/2621
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Citadel, Jessie Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2329
Consent	Emma Jane Collin, Mother; Mary Morison, Mother
Date of Certificate	8 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Major Spargo

209

8 April 1903

George Wishart Mitchell
Gertrude Robson

George Wishart Mitchell
Gertrude Robson
💍 1903/134

James William McIntosh
Gertrude Robson
💍 1903/5066

Bachelor
Spinster

Meat Inspector

29
26

Hutt
Ngahauranga

3 days
26 years

Knox Church, Hutt

03/2258

8 April 1903

Rev. W. Marshall

No	209
Date of Notice	8 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wishart Mitchell	Gertrude Robson
	💍 1903/134
BDM Match (61%)	James William McIntosh	Gertrude Robson
	💍 1903/5066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Meat Inspector
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Ngahauranga
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Hutt
Folio	03/2258
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Marshall

210

8 April 1903

William Claxton
Helen Forsyth

William Claxton
Helen Forsyth
💍 1903/2617

Widower
Spinster

Coal Merchant
Confectioner

50
40

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
2 months

Congregational Church, The Terrace, Wellington

03/2325

8 April 1903

Rev. J. R. Gleasson

No	210
Date of Notice	8 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Claxton	Helen Forsyth
	💍 1903/2617
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant	Confectioner
Age	50	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	03/2325
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Gleasson

211

8 April 1903

James Adam Capper
Mary Ann Eleanor Parker

James Adam Capper
Mary Ann Eleanor Parker
💍 1903/2593

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
2 years

Residence of M. A. E. Parker, 18 Constable Street, Wellington

03/2287

8 April 1903

Rev. G. Bond

No	211
Date of Notice	8 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Adam Capper	Mary Ann Eleanor Parker
	💍 1903/2593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. A. E. Parker, 18 Constable Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2287
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Bond

212

8 April 1903

Olaf Lund
Isabella Margaret Osborn

Olaf Lund
Isabella Margaret Osborn
💍 1903/110

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

30
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
10 days

St Marks Church, Wellington

03/2188

8 April 1903

Rev. R. G. Offey

No	212
Date of Notice	8 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Olaf Lund	Isabella Margaret Osborn
	💍 1903/110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	10 days
Marriage Place	St Marks Church, Wellington
Folio	03/2188
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. G. Offey

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).