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 1169

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1904 Registrar J. H. 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

5 February 1904

David Storoul
Edith Melita Chamberlain

David Sproul
Edith Melita Chamberlain
💍 1904/3800

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
25

Petone
Petone

2 weeks
2 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Petone

04/807

5 February 1904

Rev. A. Thomson

No	96
Date of Notice	5 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Storoul	Edith Melita Chamberlain
BDM Match (92%)	David Sproul	Edith Melita Chamberlain
	💍 1904/3800
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Petone
Folio	04/807
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Thomson

5 February 1904

Samuel Thomas Headifen
Frances McAneaney

Samuel Thomas Headifen
Frances McAneaney
💍 1904/3823

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
25

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
25 years

Residence of W. Morley, Upper Adelaide Road, Wellington

04/853

5 February 1904

Rev. J. Ainsworth

No	97
Date of Notice	5 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Thomas Headifen	Frances McAneaney
	💍 1904/3823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Morley, Upper Adelaide Road, Wellington
Folio	04/853
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ainsworth

6 February 1904

Francis Townsend
Christina Corbett

James Gowing Godwin
Christina Corbett
💍 1904/6896

Bachelor
Spinster

Veterinary Surgeon

30
22

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
2 years

Trinity Wesleyan Church, Wellington South

See note

6 February 1904

Rev. George Bond

No	98
Date of Notice	6 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Townsend	Christina Corbett
BDM Match (63%)	James Gowing Godwin	Christina Corbett
	💍 1904/6896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Veterinary Surgeon
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Wesleyan Church, Wellington South
Folio	See note
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Bond

8 February 1904

Thomas Ham Gibson
Mary Callaghan

Thomas Hans Gibson
Mary Callaghan
💍 1904/689

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

38
34

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
34 years

St. Paul's Pro Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

04/1589

8 February 1904

Rev. H. J. Stealey

No	99
Date of Notice	8 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ham Gibson	Mary Callaghan
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Hans Gibson	Mary Callaghan
	💍 1904/689
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	38	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	34 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	04/1589
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Stealey

100

8 February 1904

Robert Riddle Binning
Ellen Veronica Duggan

Robert Biddle Binning
Ellen Veronica Duggan
💍 1904/3814

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

20
21

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
3 days

Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington

04/845

Samuel Jackson Binning, Father

8 February 1904

Rev. W. J. Lewis

No	100
Date of Notice	8 February 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Riddle Binning	Ellen Veronica Duggan
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Biddle Binning	Ellen Veronica Duggan
	💍 1904/3814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	04/845
Consent	Samuel Jackson Binning, Father
Date of Certificate	8 February 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Lewis

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).