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 086

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

323

2 June 1903

Ernest Alfred Christie
Margaret Emma Jones

Ernest Alfred Christie
Margaret Emma Jones
💍 1903/3032

Bachelor
Spinster

Manufacturer Agent

35
25

Wellington
Timaru

7 years
25 years

Residence of Hon Hall - Jones, Scarborough, Timaru

03/2874

2 June 1903

Rev S. J. Serpell

No	323
Date of Notice	2 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alfred Christie	Margaret Emma Jones
	💍 1903/3032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturer Agent
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Hon Hall - Jones, Scarborough, Timaru
Folio	03/2874
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev S. J. Serpell

324

5 June 1903

Henry Arthur Prebble
Elsie Florence East

Henry Arthur Prebble
Elsie Florence East
💍 1903/118

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
23

Porirua
Wellington

6 months
3 days

Registrars Office, Wellington

03/2173

5 June 1903

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	324
Date of Notice	5 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arthur Prebble	Elsie Florence East
	💍 1903/118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	03/2173
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1903
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

325

6 June 1903

Edward Betts McGavin
Margaret Edith Frees

Edward Betty McGavin
Margaret Edith Rees
💍 1903/2574

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

24
17

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
17 years

Residence of M. Wm Rees, 33 Taranaki St., Wellington

03/2226

William Rees, father

6 June 1903

Rev J. Paterson

No	325
Date of Notice	6 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Betts McGavin	Margaret Edith Frees
BDM Match (93%)	Edward Betty McGavin	Margaret Edith Rees
	💍 1903/2574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. Wm Rees, 33 Taranaki St., Wellington
Folio	03/2226
Consent	William Rees, father
Date of Certificate	6 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson

326

8 June 1903

Robert Bransby Pownall
Edith Adeline Barnett

Robert Bransley Pownall
Edith Adeline Barnett
💍 1903/2573

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk

31
22

Wellington
Wellington

31 years
9 years

St. Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/2225

8 June 1903

Rev J. Paterson

No	326
Date of Notice	8 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Bransby Pownall	Edith Adeline Barnett
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Bransley Pownall	Edith Adeline Barnett
	💍 1903/2573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	31 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2225
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson

327

8 June 1903

Edward James Rubick
Catherine Goff

Edward Jas Rubick
Catherine Goff
💍 1903/1207

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Dressmaker

23
29

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
29 years

St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

03/2272

8 June 1903

Rev E. E. Kimbell

No	327
Date of Notice	8 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Rubick	Catherine Goff
BDM Match (95%)	Edward Jas Rubick	Catherine Goff
	💍 1903/1207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Dressmaker
Age	23	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2272
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev E. E. Kimbell

328

8 June 1903

Andrew Lees Swan
Annie Ethel Evans

Andrew Lees Swan
Annie Ethel Evans
💍 1903/2552

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

37
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
29 years

St. Peters Church, Wellington

03/2204

8 June 1903

Rev Geo. P. Davys

No	328
Date of Notice	8 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Lees Swan	Annie Ethel Evans
	💍 1903/2552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	03/2204
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo. P. Davys

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).