Intentions to Marry, 1903 North Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840423, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, October 10 2025

1903 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 258

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1903

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

4 March 1903

William George Kingsbeer
Lillian Gertrude Rush

William George Kingsbeer
Lillian Gertrude Rush
💍 1903/1459

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Painter

24 years
19 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

8 years
8 years

Broad St Wesley an Church, Palmerston North

03/541

Charlotte Rush, Mother

4 March 1903

Rev. F. B. Redstone, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

No	29
Date of Notice	4 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Kingsbeer	Lillian Gertrude Rush
	💍 1903/1459
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Painter
Age	24 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Broad St Wesley an Church, Palmerston North
Folio	03/541
Consent	Charlotte Rush, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Redstone, Methodist Minister, Palmerston North

4 March 1903

Edgar Percy Beauchamp
May Newth

Edgar Percy Beauchamp
May Newth
💍 1903/759

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

24 years
25 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
6 weeks

At the house of F. R. A. Newth, Palmerston North

03/522

4 March 1903

Rev. E. Richards, Baptist Minister, Palmerston North

No	30
Date of Notice	4 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Percy Beauchamp	May Newth
	💍 1903/759
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	24 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	At the house of F. R. A. Newth, Palmerston North
Folio	03/522
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Richards, Baptist Minister, Palmerston North

9 March 1903

Richard Stewart Carty
Mary Gleinster Murray

Richard Stewart Carty
Mary Glenister Murray
💍 1903/1460

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

30 years
34 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

20 years
4 years

At the house of Robert Murray, Palmerston North

03/542

9 March 1903

Rev. R. J. Murray, Methodist Minister, Christchurch

No	31
Date of Notice	9 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Stewart Carty	Mary Gleinster Murray
BDM Match (95%)	Richard Stewart Carty	Mary Glenister Murray
	💍 1903/1460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	30 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Robert Murray, Palmerston North
Folio	03/542
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Murray, Methodist Minister, Christchurch

9 March 1903

William Patrick Neary
Alexandrina Recca Fabrau

William Patrick Neary
Alexandrina Fabian
💍 1903/3125

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Trainer

25 years
26 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 months
1 month

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

03/578

9 March 1903

Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

No	32
Date of Notice	9 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Patrick Neary	Alexandrina Recca Fabrau
BDM Match (83%)	William Patrick Neary	Alexandrina Fabian
	💍 1903/3125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer
Age	25 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 months	1 month
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	03/578
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. C. Harper, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

10 March 1903

Samuel Slater Clark
Sarah Eliza Best

Samuel Slater Clark
Sarah Eliza Best
💍 1903/760

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

29 years
30 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

10 years
2 weeks

At the house of S. S. Clark, Palmerston North

03/523

10 March 1903

Rev. E. Richards, Baptist Minister, Palmerston North

No	33
Date of Notice	10 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Slater Clark	Sarah Eliza Best
	💍 1903/760
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	29 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	10 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	At the house of S. S. Clark, Palmerston North
Folio	03/523
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Richards, Baptist Minister, Palmerston North

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).