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 1272

District of Auckland 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

19 January 1903

Vivian Harold Potter
Lillah Matilda Coleman

Vivian Harold Potter
Lillah Matilda Coleman
💍 1903/428

Bachelor
Spinster

Cyanide

24
22

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
22 years

St. Sepulchre Church, Mount Eden

03/102

19 January 1903

Rev. E. H. Garland, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	19 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vivian Harold Potter	Lillah Matilda Coleman
	💍 1903/428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cyanide
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre Church, Mount Eden
Folio	03/102
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Garland, Church of England

20 January 1903

Aubert Oswald Hemingway
Jean Anderson Arbuckle

Aubert Oswald Hemingway
Jean Anderson Arbuckle
💍 1903/437

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer

23
22

Auckland
Devonport

10 years
18 years

The Manse

03/119

20 January 1903

Rev. R. Ferguson, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	20 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aubert Oswald Hemingway	Jean Anderson Arbuckle
	💍 1903/437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Devonport
Length of Residence	10 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Manse
Folio	03/119
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson, Presbyterian

20 January 1903

Albert Cortissoz
Mabel Farrenden

Albert Cortissoss
Mabel Farrenden
💍 1903/548

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

23
18

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
18 years

Registrar's Office

03/8

William Lyone, Father

20 January 1903

E. H. Lyone, Registrar

No	45
Date of Notice	20 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Cortissoz	Mabel Farrenden
BDM Match (94%)	Albert Cortissoss	Mabel Farrenden
	💍 1903/548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/8
Consent	William Lyone, Father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyone, Registrar

20 January 1903

Charles Edwin Hefford
Emily Wilkes

Charles Edwin Hefford
Emily Wilkes
💍 1903/530

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
35

Port Albert
Auckland

32 years
85 years

House of Albert, Brother in Law

03/167

20 January 1903

Rev. J. Clark, Baptist

No	46
Date of Notice	20 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin Hefford	Emily Wilkes
	💍 1903/530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	35
Dwelling Place	Port Albert	Auckland
Length of Residence	32 years	85 years
Marriage Place	House of Albert, Brother in Law
Folio	03/167
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Clark, Baptist

21 January 1903

Harry Thomas George Wilton
Florence Mary Wardell

Harry Thomas George Wilton
Florence Mary Wardell
💍 1903/3118

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

39
26

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
19 years

Church

03/49

21 January 1903

Rev. W. E. Fillan, Church of England

No	47
Date of Notice	21 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Thomas George Wilton	Florence Mary Wardell
	💍 1903/3118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church
Folio	03/49
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Fillan, Church of England

21 January 1903

John Charles Penhaligon
Alice Charlotte Marsh

John Charles Penhaligon
Alice Charlotte Marsh
💍 1903/430

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

41
28

Auckland
Auckland

27 years
14 years

St. James Manse

03/112

21 January 1903

Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	21 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Penhaligon	Alice Charlotte Marsh
	💍 1903/430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	41	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	27 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. James Manse
Folio	03/112
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

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).