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 1308

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

829

12 December 1904

Henry Thomas Poalinger
Hannah Josephine Masters

Henry Thomas Ballinger
Hannah Josephine Martin
💍 1904/6017

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

28
25

Wellington
Wellington

28 years
15 months

St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

04/5881

12 December 1904

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	829
Date of Notice	12 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Poalinger	Hannah Josephine Masters
BDM Match (85%)	Henry Thomas Ballinger	Hannah Josephine Martin
	💍 1904/6017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	28 years	15 months
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	04/5881
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

830

13 December 1904

David Alexander Fairweather
Maude Nellie Scobie

David Alexander Fairweather
Maude Nellie Scobie
💍 1904/4275

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

28
25

Wellington
Wellington

3.5 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace

04/5925

13 December 1904

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	830
Date of Notice	13 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Alexander Fairweather	Maude Nellie Scobie
	💍 1904/4275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3.5 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace
Folio	04/5925
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

831

13 December 1904

William Samuel Anscombe
Mary Ellen Sims

William Samuel Harcomb
Mary Ellen Sims
💍 1905/5878

Bachelor
Spinster

Tradesman

28
19

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
12 months

St. Peters Church, Wellington

05/679

No person in Colony to give consent

29 December 1904

Rev. C. W. I. Maclaverty

No	831
Date of Notice	13 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Samuel Anscombe	Mary Ellen Sims
BDM Match (91%)	William Samuel Harcomb	Mary Ellen Sims
	💍 1905/5878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tradesman
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	05/679
Consent	No person in Colony to give consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. I. Maclaverty

832

13 December 1904

William Edward Forsyth
Ellen Elizabeth Marlow

William Edward Forsyth
Ellen Elizabeth Marlow
💍 1904/6092

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

27
28

Wellington
Kilbirnie, Wellington

5 years
28 years

Wesleyan Church

04/5983

13 December 1904

Rev. Geo. Bond

No	832
Date of Notice	13 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Forsyth	Ellen Elizabeth Marlow
	💍 1904/6092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Kilbirnie, Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	04/5983
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Bond

833

14 December 1904

Robert Scott
Susan Dring

Robert Scott
Susan Dring
💍 1904/4276

Widower
Married

Commercial Traveller

51
46

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
16 years

Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington

04/5926

14 December 1904

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	833
Date of Notice	14 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Scott	Susan Dring
	💍 1904/4276
Condition	Widower	Married
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	51	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	04/5926
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

834

14 December 1904

George Edward Davis
Martha Louisa Wilshire

George Edward Davis
Martha Louisa Wilshire
💍 1904/5999

Divorced
Spinster

Drain Pipe Maker

35
32

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
14 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

04/5862

14 December 1904

F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

No	834
Date of Notice	14 December 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Davis	Martha Louisa Wilshire
	💍 1904/5999
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Drain Pipe Maker
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	04/5862
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1904
Officiating Minister	F. W. Mansfield, Registrar

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).