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 078

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

369

27 June 1903

Edward Waller Wallace
Minnie Haywood

Edward Walter Wallace True
Minnie Haywood
💍 1903/103

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23
19

Taita
Wellington

20 years
19 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

03/2182

Mary Ann Haywood, Mother

27 June 1903

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	369
Date of Notice	27 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Waller Wallace	Minnie Haywood
BDM Match (88%)	Edward Walter Wallace True	Minnie Haywood
	💍 1903/103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Taita	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	03/2182
Consent	Mary Ann Haywood, Mother
Date of Certificate	27 June 1903
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

370

27 June 1903

Clifford Lawrence
Isabella Bethune

Clifford Lawrence
Isabella Bethune
💍 1903/2575

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

30
30

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
6 years

Residence of Rev J. Paterson, Woolcombe Street, Wellington

03/2227

27 June 1903

Rev J. Paterson

No	370
Date of Notice	27 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Lawrence	Isabella Bethune
	💍 1903/2575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev J. Paterson, Woolcombe Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2227
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson

371

27 June 1903

John Hugh O'Connor
Jessie Doole

John Hugh O'Connor
Jessie Doole
💍 1903/104

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Gardman
Dressmaker

27
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
2 1/2 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

03/2183

27 June 1903

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	371
Date of Notice	27 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hugh O'Connor	Jessie Doole
	💍 1903/104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Gardman	Dressmaker
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	03/2183
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1903
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

372

27 June 1903

George Oscar Ward
Annie Josephine McEulla

George Oscar Ward
Annie Josephine McCulla
💍 1903/1212

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
26

Vogeltown
Wellington

4 months
6 months

St Mary of the Angels, Bonlcott Street, Wellington

03/2277

27 June 1903

Rev J. O'Shea

No	372
Date of Notice	27 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Oscar Ward	Annie Josephine McEulla
BDM Match (98%)	George Oscar Ward	Annie Josephine McCulla
	💍 1903/1212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Vogeltown	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels, Bonlcott Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2277
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. O'Shea

373

29 June 1903

John Ross
Briana Locherbie

John Ross
Diana Lockerbie
💍 1903/130

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

36
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
2 weeks

Residence of Mr Herd, 91 Austin Street, Wellington

03/2255

29 June 1903

Rev D. Martin

No	373
Date of Notice	29 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ross	Briana Locherbie
BDM Match (91%)	John Ross	Diana Lockerbie
	💍 1903/130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Herd, 91 Austin Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2255
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev D. Martin

374

29 June 1903

George Heber Cox
Lillie Fridman

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Bath Attendant
Laundress

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

11 years
26 years

Residence of Mrs Hall, 85 Manners Street, Wellington

03/2196

29 June 1903

Rev Wm Shirer

No	374
Date of Notice	29 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Heber Cox	Lillie Fridman
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bath Attendant	Laundress
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Hall, 85 Manners Street, Wellington
Folio	03/2196
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev Wm Shirer

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).