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 1163

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1904

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

23 January 1904

Robert Brown
Ellen Elizabeth Shute

Robert Brown
Ellen Elizabeth Shute
💍 1904/3294

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant

29
24

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
5 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington

04/879

23 January 1904

Rev. J. Dawson

No	62
Date of Notice	23 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Brown	Ellen Elizabeth Shute
	💍 1904/3294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street, Wellington
Folio	04/879
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dawson

23 January 1904

Frank Edwin Ford
Sophia Mary Barlow

Frank Edwin Ford
Sophia Mary Barlow
💍 1904/3854

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman
Dressmaker

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

10 days
18 days

Residence of Mr. A. Lawrence, Hargraves Street, Wellington

04/889

23 January 1904

Mr. J. J. Baillie

No	63
Date of Notice	23 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Edwin Ford	Sophia Mary Barlow
	💍 1904/3854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman	Dressmaker
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 days	18 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. Lawrence, Hargraves Street, Wellington
Folio	04/889
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. J. Baillie

25 January 1904

George Hill
Harriet Goodie

George Hill
Harriett Gorrie
💍 1904/3767

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
1 month

St. Peters Church, Wellington

04/747

25 January 1904

Rev. G. P. Davys

No	64
Date of Notice	25 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hill	Harriet Goodie
BDM Match (90%)	George Hill	Harriett Gorrie
	💍 1904/3767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Wellington
Folio	04/747
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Davys

25 January 1904

Jim Perrett
Kate Ellen Pankhurst

Jim Perrett
Kate Ellen Pankhurst
💍 1904/3278

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

27
23

Wellington
Wellington

life
life

Trinity Wesleyan Church, Wellington

04/855

25 January 1904

Rev. G. Bond

No	65
Date of Notice	25 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jim Perrett	Kate Ellen Pankhurst
	💍 1904/3278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	life	life
Marriage Place	Trinity Wesleyan Church, Wellington
Folio	04/855
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Bond

25 January 1904

Arthur Pearce
Mary Stevenson Gray

Arthur Pearce
Mary Stevenson Gray
💍 1904/3327

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Tailoress

23
20

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
20 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

04/789

Barbara Gray, Mother

25 January 1904

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	66
Date of Notice	25 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Pearce	Mary Stevenson Gray
	💍 1904/3327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Tailoress
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	04/789
Consent	Barbara Gray, Mother
Date of Certificate	25 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

25 January 1904

John Hamilton
Ellen Horrocks

John Hamilton
Ellen Horrocks
💍 1904/3853

Widower
Spinster

Settler
Stationer

65
55

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
18 years

Residence of the Bride, 6 Riddiford Street, Wellington

04/1888

25 January 1904

Rev. B. L. Thomas

No	67
Date of Notice	25 January 1904
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton	Ellen Horrocks
	💍 1904/3853
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler	Stationer
Age	65	55
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Bride, 6 Riddiford Street, Wellington
Folio	04/1888
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1904
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. L. Thomas

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).