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 693

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Charles Cameron Nicholas

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

11 February 1903

Charles Henry Madden
Theresa May Angelo

Charles Henry Madden
Theresa May August
💍 1903/690

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

25
22

Whangarei
Whangarei

8 months
8 years

Christ Church

03/283

11 February 1903

Rev. R. L. Cubitt

No	10
Date of Notice	11 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Madden	Theresa May Angelo
BDM Match (89%)	Charles Henry Madden	Theresa May August
	💍 1903/690
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	8 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church
Folio	03/283
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Cubitt

2 March 1903

Frank Williams
Louisa Jane Russell

Frank Williams
Louisa Jane Russell
💍 1903/474

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

28
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
4 years

Office of Registrar, Whangarei

03/275

2 March 1903

The Registrar

No	11
Date of Notice	2 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Williams	Louisa Jane Russell
	💍 1903/474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Whangarei
Folio	03/275
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1903
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

4 March 1903

Henry Gibson Hory
Delia Welshe

Henry Gibson Hoey
Delia Welshe
💍 1903/475

Bachelor
Spinster

Dealer

28
26

Whangarei
Sydney

5 years

Office of Registrar, Whangarei

03/276

4 March 1903

The Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	4 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gibson Hory	Delia Welshe
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Gibson Hoey	Delia Welshe
	💍 1903/475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dealer
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Sydney
Length of Residence	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Whangarei
Folio	03/276
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1903
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

7 March 1903

James David Langridge
Elfreda Ellen Roper Drake

James David Langridge
Elfrida Ellen Naper Drake
💍 1903/691

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
26

Purua
Purua

2 years
10 years

Christ Church, Whangarei

03/284

7 March 1903

Rev. R. L. Cubitt

No	13
Date of Notice	7 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James David Langridge	Elfreda Ellen Roper Drake
BDM Match (94%)	James David Langridge	Elfrida Ellen Naper Drake
	💍 1903/691
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Purua	Purua
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Whangarei
Folio	03/284
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Cubitt

11 March 1903

James Ruddell
Julia Letitia Gade

James Ruddell
Julia Letitia Gade
💍 1903/694

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter

30
21

Parua Bay
Parua Bay

12 years
10 years

Residence of H. Riddell, Whangarei

03/287

11 March 1903

Rev. J. H. Hawkesley

No	14
Date of Notice	11 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ruddell	Julia Letitia Gade
	💍 1903/694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Parua Bay	Parua Bay
Length of Residence	12 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. Riddell, Whangarei
Folio	03/287
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Hawkesley

13 March 1903

George Thomas Collinson
Margaret Mary Neale

George Thomas Collinson
Margaret Mary Neale
💍 1903/476

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
16

Marua
Marua

20 years
6 years

Office of Registrar, Whangarei

03/277

John Neale, Father

13 March 1903

The Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	13 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Collinson	Margaret Mary Neale
	💍 1903/476
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	16
Dwelling Place	Marua	Marua
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Whangarei
Folio	03/277
Consent	John Neale, Father
Date of Certificate	13 March 1903
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

31 March 1903

Sidney Worner
Lavinia Henshaw

Sidney Worner
Lavinia Henshaw
💍 1903/2299

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

29
20

Whangarei
Whangarei

12 months
2 weeks

Presbyterian Manse, Whangarei

03/1821

William Hinchaw, Father

31 March 1903

Rev. W. P. Maclean

No	16
Date of Notice	31 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Worner	Lavinia Henshaw
	💍 1903/2299
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	12 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Whangarei
Folio	03/1821
Consent	William Hinchaw, Father
Date of Certificate	31 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. P. Maclean

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).