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 029

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

628

4 November 1903

Frank Waller
Pearl Olliver

Frank Waller
Pearl Olliver
💍 1903/5647

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine
Fireman

27
17

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
17 years

Registrars Office, Wellington

03/5548

Rose Olliver, Mother

4 November 1903

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	628
Date of Notice	4 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Waller	Pearl Olliver
	💍 1903/5647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine	Fireman
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Wellington
Folio	03/5548
Consent	Rose Olliver, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 November 1903
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

629

5 November 1903

Jacob Alfred Wahren
Francis Kellie Giddings

Jacob Alfred Wahren
Frances Nellie Giddings
💍 1903/5753

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

21
23

Wellington
Wellington South

19 years
8 months

St. James Church, Wellington South

03/5605

5 November 1903

Rev. W. Shirer

No	629
Date of Notice	5 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jacob Alfred Wahren	Francis Kellie Giddings
BDM Match (96%)	Jacob Alfred Wahren	Frances Nellie Giddings
	💍 1903/5753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington South
Length of Residence	19 years	8 months
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Wellington South
Folio	03/5605
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

630

5 November 1903

William Baker
Elizabeth Hambley

William Baker
Elizabeth Hambley
💍 1903/287

Bachelor
Spinster

Gas Fitter

28
27

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
3 weeks

Residence of Mr. Wm. Baker, 30 College Street, Wellington

03/5696

5 November 1903

Mr. E. Turner

No	630
Date of Notice	5 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Baker	Elizabeth Hambley
	💍 1903/287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gas Fitter
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Wm. Baker, 30 College Street, Wellington
Folio	03/5696
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Mr. E. Turner

631

6 November 1903

Walter Hodgson
Mary Ann Winter

Walter Hodgson
Mary Ann Winstanley
💍 1903/5983

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

34
32

Petone
Petone

12 months
14 days

Presbyterian Church, Petone

03/5875

6 November 1903

Rev. A. Thomson

No	631
Date of Notice	6 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hodgson	Mary Ann Winter
BDM Match (87%)	Walter Hodgson	Mary Ann Winstanley
	💍 1903/5983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	12 months	14 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Petone
Folio	03/5875
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

632

6 November 1903

William John Fisher
Mabel Fairy Chittenden

William John Fisher
Mabel Fairy Chittenden
💍 1903/6513

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Board Employee

29
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
2 years

St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

03/6578

6 November 1903

Rev. J. A. Sprott

No	632
Date of Notice	6 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Fisher	Mabel Fairy Chittenden
	💍 1903/6513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Board Employee
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Pro-Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	03/6578
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Sprott

633

7 November 1903

John Alfred Teodor Carter
Matilda Elizabeth Taylor

John Alfred Teodor Carter
Martha Elizabeth Taylor
💍 1903/5754

Bachelor
Widow

Platelayer

40
38

Wellington
Wellington South, Wellington

9 months
8 months

St. James Church, Wellington South

03/5606

7 November 1903

Rev. W. Shirer

No	633
Date of Notice	7 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Teodor Carter	Matilda Elizabeth Taylor
BDM Match (92%)	John Alfred Teodor Carter	Martha Elizabeth Taylor
	💍 1903/5754
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Platelayer
Age	40	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington South, Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	8 months
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Wellington South
Folio	03/5606
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. 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).