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 1198

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1893

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

456

8 July 1903

Alfred Ernest King
Julia Martha Oldham

Alfred Ernest King
Julia Martha Oldham
💍 1903/3415

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

22
23

Auckland
Braithwaite, Ponsonby

2 years
20 years

House of [illegible] S.S.

03/3414

8 July 1903

Rev. W. Sittos, Methodist

No	456
Date of Notice	8 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest King	Julia Martha Oldham
	💍 1903/3415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Braithwaite, Ponsonby
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of [illegible] S.S.
Folio	03/3414
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Sittos, Methodist

457

8 July 1903

Leonard John Keys
Sarah Marjory Rihaster

Leonard John Keys
Sarah Marjory McMaster
💍 1903/3077

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Assistant

23
22

Auckland
Great Street

3 years
5 years

Church of Christ

03/3445

8 July 1903

Rev. S. Aldridge, Church of Christ

No	457
Date of Notice	8 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard John Keys	Sarah Marjory Rihaster
BDM Match (93%)	Leonard John Keys	Sarah Marjory McMaster
	💍 1903/3077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Assistant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Great Street
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ
Folio	03/3445
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Aldridge, Church of Christ

458

10 July 1903

Hector Campbell
Margaret Mc-Intyre

Hector Campbell
Margaret McIntyre
💍 1903/3925

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

24
28

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
1 month

Registrar Office

03/3326

10 July 1903

S. H. Lyon, Registrar

No	458
Date of Notice	10 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Campbell	Margaret Mc-Intyre
BDM Match (97%)	Hector Campbell	Margaret McIntyre
	💍 1903/3925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar Office
Folio	03/3326
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1903
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyon, Registrar

459

10 July 1903

John Norman Richworth
Ethel Eunice Watkin

John Norman Rishworth
Ethel Eunice Watkin
💍 1903/3398

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

26
30

Auckland
Pitt Street

5 years
8 years

Methodist Church

03/3421

10 July 1903

Rev. W. J. Watkin, Methodist

No	459
Date of Notice	10 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Norman Richworth	Ethel Eunice Watkin
BDM Match (98%)	John Norman Rishworth	Ethel Eunice Watkin
	💍 1903/3398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Pitt Street
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	03/3421
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Watkin, Methodist

460

11 July 1903

William Hoar
Annie Maxwell

William Hoar
Annie Maxwell
💍 1903/3959

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

36
24

Auckland
Mount Albert

4 days
24 years

St. Luke's Church

03/3365

11 July 1903

Rev. W. H. Wilson, Church of England

No	460
Date of Notice	11 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hoar	Annie Maxwell
	💍 1903/3959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mount Albert
Length of Residence	4 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church
Folio	03/3365
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Wilson, Church of England

461

13 July 1903

Samuel John Polglase
Florence Annie Ruddle

Samuel John Polglase
Florence Annie Ruddle
💍 1903/3399

Bachelor
Spinster

Restaurant Keeper

28
18

Auckland
Pitt Street

6 years
18 years

Methodist Church

03/3422

John Ruddle, Father

13 July 1903

Rev. C. H. Farland, Methodist

No	461
Date of Notice	13 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel John Polglase	Florence Annie Ruddle
	💍 1903/3399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Restaurant Keeper
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Pitt Street
Length of Residence	6 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	03/3422
Consent	John Ruddle, Father
Date of Certificate	13 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Farland, Methodist

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).