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 047

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

537

21 September 1903

Weymouth Blakeley
Jane Compton

Wrymmth Blakeley
Jane Compton
💍 1903/173

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehousman

26 years
24 years

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
24 years

St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/3948

21 September 1903

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	537
Date of Notice	21 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Weymouth Blakeley	Jane Compton
BDM Match (91%)	Wrymmth Blakeley	Jane Compton
	💍 1903/173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehousman
Age	26 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/3948
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

538

21 September 1903

Henry Lenz-a Montey Harris
Judith Sarah Lepper

Henry Lenza Montey Harris
Judith Sarah Lepper
💍 1903/4260

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Tailoress

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
2 years

Residence of J. J. Lepper, Hall Street, Wellington

03/3968

21 September 1903

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	538
Date of Notice	21 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lenz-a Montey Harris	Judith Sarah Lepper
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Lenza Montey Harris	Judith Sarah Lepper
	💍 1903/4260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Tailoress
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. J. Lepper, Hall Street, Wellington
Folio	03/3968
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

539

22 September 1903

James Erskine Patrick
Jeannie Gow Robertson

James Erskine Patrick
Jeannie Gow Robertson
💍 1903/3696

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
7 years

St. Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/3992

22 September 1903

Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

No	539
Date of Notice	22 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Erskine Patrick	Jeannie Gow Robertson
	💍 1903/3696
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/3992
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb D.D.

540

22 September 1903

Horton Hamcorn Ledger
Catherine Cummings

Horton Hancorn Ledger
Catherine Cummings
💍 1903/3680

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
36

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
3 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

03/4000

22 September 1903

Rev. E. E. Kimbell

No	540
Date of Notice	22 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horton Hamcorn Ledger	Catherine Cummings
BDM Match (98%)	Horton Hancorn Ledger	Catherine Cummings
	💍 1903/3680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	03/4000
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Kimbell

541

22 September 1903

George Dailey
Victoria May Young

George Dailey
Victoria May Young
💍 1903/172

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

34
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
28 years

St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

03/3947

22 September 1903

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	541
Date of Notice	22 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Dailey	Victoria May Young
	💍 1903/172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	03/3947
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

542

22 September 1903

Denis Sullivan
Annie McGinn

Denis Sullivan
Annie McGinn
💍 1903/3681

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer

44
36

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
14 years

St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott St., Wellington

03/4001

22 September 1903

Rev. J. O'Shea

No	542
Date of Notice	22 September 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denis Sullivan	Annie McGinn
	💍 1903/3681
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer
Age	44	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott St., Wellington
Folio	03/4001
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Shea

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).