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 1197

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

242

29 March 1904

Aubrey John Lancaster
Ethel Elizabeth Sarah Windram

Aubrey John Lancaster
Ethel Elizabeth Sarah Windram
💍 1904/1545

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

23
23

Wellington
Ballarat Victoria in Colony Street Wellington

8 months
19 years 2 days

Residence of Rev. C. Dallaston, 63 Austin Street, Wellington

04/2591

29 March 1904

Rev. C. Dallaston

No	242
Date of Notice	29 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aubrey John Lancaster	Ethel Elizabeth Sarah Windram
	💍 1904/1545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Ballarat Victoria in Colony Street Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	19 years 2 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. C. Dallaston, 63 Austin Street, Wellington
Folio	04/2591
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Dallaston

243

29 March 1904

Arthur Desnoy Bowrne
Caroline Maud Bowcher

Arthur Desnoy Bourne
Caroline Maud Burch
💍 1904/3837

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Machinist

27
23

Wellington
Wellington

5 months
4 days

Residence of Mr. Bowrne, Florence Street, Wellington

04/895

29 March 1904

Mr. A. J. Turner

No	243
Date of Notice	29 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Desnoy Bowrne	Caroline Maud Bowcher
BDM Match (88%)	Arthur Desnoy Bourne	Caroline Maud Burch
	💍 1904/3837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Machinist
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Bowrne, Florence Street, Wellington
Folio	04/895
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Mr. A. J. Turner

244

29 March 1904

Hugh Ross
Florence Louise Marsh

Hugh Ross
Florence Louise Marsh
💍 1904/1555

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
24

Wellington
Petone

2 years 6 months
6 weeks

St. Augustine's Church, Petone

04/2600

29 March 1904

Rev. J. Jones

No	244
Date of Notice	29 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Ross	Florence Louise Marsh
	💍 1904/1555
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Petone
Length of Residence	2 years 6 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Petone
Folio	04/2600
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Jones

245

29 March 1904

Edwin Swaffer Thornton
Johanna Christina Jacobsen

Edwin Swaffer Thornton
Johanna Enstina Jacobsen
💍 1904/1517

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman

39
37

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
3 years

St. James's Church, Manse South, Wellington

04/2538

29 March 1904

Rev. W. Shires

No	245
Date of Notice	29 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Swaffer Thornton	Johanna Christina Jacobsen
BDM Match (92%)	Edwin Swaffer Thornton	Johanna Enstina Jacobsen
	💍 1904/1517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman
Age	39	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. James's Church, Manse South, Wellington
Folio	04/2538
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shires

246

29 March 1904

Reginald Alexander Homerton
Ethel Maud Watkins

Reginald Alexander Hamerton
Ethel Maud Watkins
💍 1904/1453

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Engineer

36
33

Wellington
Wellington

17 years
8 years

St. Mark's Church, Wellington

04/2498

29 March 1904

Rev. R. E. Coffey

No	246
Date of Notice	29 March 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Alexander Homerton	Ethel Maud Watkins
BDM Match (98%)	Reginald Alexander Hamerton	Ethel Maud Watkins
	💍 1904/1453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	17 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Wellington
Folio	04/2498
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. E. Coffey

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).