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 039

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

577

9 October 1903

Henry Pilcher
Sarah Jane Smith

Henry Pilcher
Sarah Jane Smith
💍 1903/3258

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
21

Nai Nai
Epuni Hamlet

22 years
18 months

Registrars Office, Wellington

03/5539

9 October 1903

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	577
Date of Notice	9 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Pilcher	Sarah Jane Smith
	💍 1903/3258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Nai Nai	Epuni Hamlet
Length of Residence	22 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	03/5539
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1903
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

578

9 October 1903

Edwin Charles James Frederic Chilton Payne (17 May 1890)
Mary Ann Elizabeth Brown (25 April 1889)

Edwin Charles James Fredrick Chilton Payne
Mary Ann Elizabeth Brown
💍 1903/5712

Widower
Widow

Engineer

46
45

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. Brown, 5 Maarama Crescent, Wellington

03/5663

9 October 1903

Rev. W. C. Oliver

No	578
Date of Notice	9 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Charles James Frederic Chilton Payne (17 May 1890)	Mary Ann Elizabeth Brown (25 April 1889)
BDM Match (66%)	Edwin Charles James Fredrick Chilton Payne	Mary Ann Elizabeth Brown
	💍 1903/5712
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Engineer
Age	46	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Brown, 5 Maarama Crescent, Wellington
Folio	03/5663
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Oliver

579

9 October 1903

Percy Henry Passau
Martha Marian Longton

Percy Henry Passan
Martha Marian Longton
💍 1903/3259

Bachelor
Spinster

Banker

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
Life

Registrars Office, Wellington

03/5540

9 October 1903

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	579
Date of Notice	9 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Henry Passau	Martha Marian Longton
BDM Match (97%)	Percy Henry Passan	Martha Marian Longton
	💍 1903/3259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Banker
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	03/5540
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1903
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

580

10 October 1903

Francis Gustavus Hume
Ruth Penelope Corrie Bristow

Francis Gustaves Hume
Ruth Penelope Corrie Custance
💍 1903/5757

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
31

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
1 day

St. James Church, Lower Hutt

03/5590

10 October 1903

Rev. Joshua Jones

No	580
Date of Notice	10 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Gustavus Hume	Ruth Penelope Corrie Bristow
BDM Match (86%)	Francis Gustaves Hume	Ruth Penelope Corrie Custance
	💍 1903/5757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	1 day
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	03/5590
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joshua Jones

581

10 October 1903

George William Hunter
Clara Frances Whitwell

George William Hunter
Clara Frances Whitwell
💍 1903/5713

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

44
39

Petone
Wellington

14 months
12 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

03/5664

10 October 1903

Rev. W. C. Oliver

No	581
Date of Notice	10 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Hunter	Clara Frances Whitwell
	💍 1903/5713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	44	39
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	03/5664
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Oliver

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).