Intentions to Marry, 1902 North Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840421, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, October 3 2025

1902 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 522

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1902 Registrar John Burdon

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

22 July 1902

Walter Garbutt
Gertrude Adam

Walter Garbutt
Gertrude Jessopp Adam
💍 1902/3628

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Duties

35
23

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

At the Residence of the Brides Parents, Hastings Street, Napier

02/3484

22 July 1902

Rev. E. E. Beecrofts

No	58
Date of Notice	22 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Garbutt	Gertrude Adam
BDM Match (81%)	Walter Garbutt	Gertrude Jessopp Adam
	💍 1902/3628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Duties
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the Residence of the Brides Parents, Hastings Street, Napier
Folio	02/3484
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Beecrofts

5 August 1902

Frederick Walter Scott
Jessie Hardie

Frederick Walter Cook
Eva Jessie Hardie
💍 1902/4328

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Duties

24
24

Napier
Wellington

5 months
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Newtown, Wellington

02/3717

5 August 1902

Rev. W. M. Shirer

No	59
Date of Notice	5 August 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Walter Scott	Jessie Hardie
BDM Match (79%)	Frederick Walter Cook	Eva Jessie Hardie
	💍 1902/4328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Newtown, Wellington
Folio	02/3717
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Shirer

11 August 1902

Albert Edward Wrightson
Julia Smith

Albert Edward Wrightson
Julia Smith
💍 1902/4436

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor
Domestic

30
22

Napier
Napier

26 years
22 years

The Cathedral at Napier

02/3949

11 August 1902

Very Rev. Dean Hovell

No	60
Date of Notice	11 August 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Wrightson	Julia Smith
	💍 1902/4436
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	Domestic
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	26 years	22 years
Marriage Place	The Cathedral at Napier
Folio	02/3949
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1902
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean Hovell

19 August 1902

Reginald Maurice Bower
Maud Anthony

Reginald Maurice Bower
Maud Anthony
💍 1902/4437

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic Duties

41
25

Napier
Napier

30 years
2 years

St. Augustine's Church, Bower Street, Napier

02/3950

19 August 1902

Rev. E. L. Tuke

No	61
Date of Notice	19 August 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Maurice Bower	Maud Anthony
	💍 1902/4437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	41	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	30 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Bower Street, Napier
Folio	02/3950
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. L. Tuke

21 August 1902

Henry Crosslie Rock
Alice Caroline Johns

Henry Crosslie Rock
Alice Caroline Johns
💍 1902/3621

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

30
33

Napier
Napier

5 years
5 months

At the Registry Office, Napier

02/3477

21 August 1902

John Burdon, Registrar

No	62
Date of Notice	21 August 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Crosslie Rock	Alice Caroline Johns
	💍 1902/3621
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	5 months
Marriage Place	At the Registry Office, Napier
Folio	02/3477
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1902
Officiating Minister	John Burdon, 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 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).