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 033

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

607

26 October 1903

Charles Stephen Powell
Honora Susan Hannan

Charles Stephen Powell
Honoria Susan Hannan
💍 1903/5720

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman

29
21

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
3 days

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Bonicott St., Wellington

03/5648

26 October 1903

Rev J. O'Shea

No	607
Date of Notice	26 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stephen Powell	Honora Susan Hannan
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Stephen Powell	Honoria Susan Hannan
	💍 1903/5720
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Bonicott St., Wellington
Folio	03/5648
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. O'Shea

608

26 October 1903

Alfred Edward Bowden
Wilhelmina Dark

Alfred Edward Bowden
Wilhelmina Dark
💍 1903/5806

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
26

Kaiwarra
Wellington

6 yrs
Life

St. Johns Church, Willis St., Wellington

03/5633

26 October 1903

Rev James Gibb D.D.

No	608
Date of Notice	26 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Bowden	Wilhelmina Dark
	💍 1903/5806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Kaiwarra	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 yrs	Life
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church, Willis St., Wellington
Folio	03/5633
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev James Gibb D.D.

609

27 October 1903

Ernest Alphonso Brownlee Douslin
Margaret Veronica McGill

Ernest Alphonso Brownlee Douslin
Margaret Veronica McGill
💍 1903/5709

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

28
25

Petone
Petone

5 yrs
15 yrs

Residence of Mr. McGill, Bay Street, Petone

03/5660

27 October 1903

Rev J. G. Maples

No	609
Date of Notice	27 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alphonso Brownlee Douslin	Margaret Veronica McGill
	💍 1903/5709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	5 yrs	15 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. McGill, Bay Street, Petone
Folio	03/5660
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. G. Maples

610

28 October 1903

James Andrew Simpson
Blairanda Williamson

James Andrew Simpson
Clairanda Williamson
💍 1903/5816

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

21
20

Wellington
Wellington

20 yrs
20 yrs

Residence of Mr. Framon, No. 8 Oxford Terrace, Wellington

03/5619

Martha Francis Williamson

28 October 1903

Rev J. K. Elliott

No	610
Date of Notice	28 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Andrew Simpson	Blairanda Williamson
BDM Match (98%)	James Andrew Simpson	Clairanda Williamson
	💍 1903/5816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 yrs	20 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Framon, No. 8 Oxford Terrace, Wellington
Folio	03/5619
Consent	Martha Francis Williamson
Date of Certificate	28 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. K. Elliott

611

30 October 1903

Alfred Halliday
Fanny Joyner

Alfred Halliday
Fanny Joyner
💍 1903/6583

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

37
28

Wellington
Wellington

1 1/2 yrs
2 wks

Primitive Methodist Church Parsonage, Webb Street, Wellington

03/6589

30 October 1903

Rev J. Dawson

No	611
Date of Notice	30 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Halliday	Fanny Joyner
	💍 1903/6583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 1/2 yrs	2 wks
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church Parsonage, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	03/6589
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Dawson

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).