Intentions to Marry, 1904 North Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840425, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, October 13 2025.

1904 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 1189

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1904 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

198

18 March 1904

Stanley Jefferys
Eva Elizabeth Ecclesfield

Stanley Jefferys
Eva Elizabeth Ecclesfield
💍 1904/3787

Bachelor
Spinster

Draftsman
Clerk

38
33

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
4 years

St. Andrews Manse, Hill Street, Wellington

04/817

18 March 1904

Rev. J. G. Smith

No	198
Date of Notice	18 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Jefferys	Eva Elizabeth Ecclesfield
	💍 1904/3787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draftsman	Clerk
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Manse, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	04/817
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smith

199

18 March 1904

William Graham Walker
Clara Hannah Wellings

William Graham Walker
Clara Hannah Wellings
💍 1904/3803

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

26
21

Lower Hutt
Petone

15 years
3 years

St. David's Church, Petone

04/810

18 March 1904

Rev. A. Thomson

No	199
Date of Notice	18 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Graham Walker	Clara Hannah Wellings
	💍 1904/3803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Petone
Length of Residence	15 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Petone
Folio	04/810
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

200

18 March 1904

Frederick James Kirby
Alice Lawes Nicholas

Frederick James Kirby
Alice Lawes Nicholas
💍 1904/3849

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

32
24

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
1 year

Residence of Mr. James Gowan, 78 Abel Smith Street, Wellington

04/883

18 March 1904

Rev. J. Reed Glasson

No	200
Date of Notice	18 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Kirby	Alice Lawes Nicholas
	💍 1904/3849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. James Gowan, 78 Abel Smith Street, Wellington
Folio	04/883
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Reed Glasson

201

19 March 1904

Thomas Stevens Young
Mary Jane Ralph

Thomas Stevens Young
Mary Jane Ralph
💍 1904/3804

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

33
35

Wellington
Petone

2 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. J. B. [illegible]

04/811

19 March 1904

Rev. A. Thomson

No	201
Date of Notice	19 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stevens Young	Mary Jane Ralph
	💍 1904/3804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. B. [illegible]
Folio	04/811
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

202

19 March 1904

Edward Giblin Miners
Sarah Miners

Edward Giblin
Sarah Miners
💍 1904/6825

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

38
19

Pukerua, Wellington
Pukerua, Wellington

15 months
2 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

04/718

Mark Miners, father

19 March 1904

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	202
Date of Notice	19 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Giblin Miners	Sarah Miners
BDM Match (83%)	Edward Giblin	Sarah Miners
	💍 1904/6825
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	19
Dwelling Place	Pukerua, Wellington	Pukerua, Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	04/718
Consent	Mark Miners, father
Date of Certificate	19 March 1904
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

203

21 March 1904

Wilfred Holmden Didsbury
Clara Bulkley

Wilfred Holmden Didsbury
Clara Bulkley
💍 1904/3255

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon, Dentist

31
21

Wellington
Karori

31 years
21 years

Anglican Church, Karori

04/765

21 March 1904

Rev. A. L. Hansell

No	203
Date of Notice	21 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Holmden Didsbury	Clara Bulkley
	💍 1904/3255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon, Dentist
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	31 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Karori
Folio	04/765
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. Hansell

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 1908. 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).