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 582

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 1902 Registrar Sydney Henry James

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 July 1902

Henry Huckstep
Ida Margaret Bonner

Henry Huckstep
Ida Margaret Bonner
💍 1902/3848

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

30
23

Stratford
Stratford

4 years
18 years

Residence of Mr R. Bonner, Skinner Road

02/3445

5 July 1902

Rev. Jas. le Clover, Primitive Methodist

No	29
Date of Notice	5 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Huckstep	Ida Margaret Bonner
	💍 1902/3848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr R. Bonner, Skinner Road
Folio	02/3445
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. le Clover, Primitive Methodist

10 July 1902

Harry Burgess
Ethel May Robinson

Harry Burgess
Ethel May Robinson
💍 1902/3849

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Milliner

28
23

Inglewood
Stratford

5 months
3 years

Primitive Methodist Church

02/3446

10 July 1902

Rev. J. Clover, Primitive Methodist

No	30
Date of Notice	10 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Burgess	Ethel May Robinson
	💍 1902/3849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Milliner
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Inglewood	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church
Folio	02/3446
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Clover, Primitive Methodist

7 July 1902

George William Pratt
Margaret Ellen Wallace

George William Pratt
Margaret Ellen Wallace
💍 1902/3830

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
20

Stratford
Stratford

3 days
6 months

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

02/3451

Thomas James Hamilton Wallace, father

7 July 1902

Rev. B. Watson, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	7 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Pratt	Margaret Ellen Wallace
	💍 1902/3830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	02/3451
Consent	Thomas James Hamilton Wallace, father
Date of Certificate	7 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Watson, Presbyterian

10 July 1902

William Joseph Browne
Mary Louisa Gibson

William Joseph Browne
Mary Louisa Gibson
💍 1902/3846

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
24

Stratford
Stratford

10 years
3 years

Church of England

02/3443

10 July 1902

Rev. R. D. Boyes, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	10 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Browne	Mary Louisa Gibson
	💍 1902/3846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	02/3443
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. D. Boyes, Church of England

16 July 1902

William Jones
Elizabeth Brown

William Jones
Elizabeth Brown
💍 1902/3438

William Adams
Emily Brown
💍 1902/4603

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

43
39

Midhurst
Midhurst

20 years
9 years

Office of the Registrar, Stratford

02/3439

16 July 1902

S. H. James, Registrar

No	33
Date of Notice	16 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jones	Elizabeth Brown
	💍 1902/3438
BDM Match (61%)	William Adams	Emily Brown
	💍 1902/4603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	43	39
Dwelling Place	Midhurst	Midhurst
Length of Residence	20 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Stratford
Folio	02/3439
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1902
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar

19 July 1902

Thomas Robson
Elizabeth Emily Topp

Thomas Dobson
Elizabeth Emily Topp
💍 1902/3831

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
21

Mangatoki
Cardiff

2 years
4 years

Wesleyan Church, Cardiff

02/3452

19 July 1902

Rev. J. A. Lochore, Wesleyan

No	34
Date of Notice	19 July 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robson	Elizabeth Emily Topp
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Dobson	Elizabeth Emily Topp
	💍 1902/3831
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Mangatoki	Cardiff
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Cardiff
Folio	02/3452
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1902
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Lochore, Wesleyan

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).