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 1274

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

14 January 1903

James Hepburn
Sarah Edith Florence Josephine Smyth

James Hepburn
Sarah Edith Florence Euphemia Smyth
💍 1903/528

Bachelor
Spinster

Hamper

30
23

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
23 years

Baptist Church, Mount Eden

03/165

14 January 1903

Rev. J. S. Baryd, Baptist

No	31
Date of Notice	14 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hepburn	Sarah Edith Florence Josephine Smyth
BDM Match (89%)	James Hepburn	Sarah Edith Florence Euphemia Smyth
	💍 1903/528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hamper
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Mount Eden
Folio	03/165
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Baryd, Baptist

14 January 1903

Ernest Corin
Marene Catherine Elvira Barthow

Ernest Carin
Marene Catherine Elvira Barthaw
💍 1903/3100

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy-man

26
23

Auckland
Auckland

18 months
23 years

The Holy Sepulchre Church, Auckland

03/73

14 January 1903

Rev. S. A. Carter, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	14 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Corin	Marene Catherine Elvira Barthow
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Carin	Marene Catherine Elvira Barthaw
	💍 1903/3100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy-man
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 months	23 years
Marriage Place	The Holy Sepulchre Church, Auckland
Folio	03/73
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. A. Carter, Church of England

14 January 1903

Joseph Gorman
Sarah Elizabeth Ellis

Joseph Gorman
Sarah Elizabeth Ellis
💍 1903/3105

Bachelor
Widow

Fisher-man

50
54

Auckland
Auckland

43 years
20 years

Registrar Office, Auckland

03/6

14 January 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	33
Date of Notice	14 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Gorman	Sarah Elizabeth Ellis
	💍 1903/3105
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Fisher-man
Age	50	54
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	43 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Auckland
Folio	03/6
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

14 January 1903

Charles Stephen Newton
Charlotte Agnes Parker

Charles Stephen Newton
Charlotte Agnes Parker
💍 1903/547

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

26
27

Auckland
Auckland

26 years
24 years

Registrar Office, Auckland

03/7

14 January 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	14 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stephen Newton	Charlotte Agnes Parker
	💍 1903/547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Auckland
Folio	03/7
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

15 January 1903

Alexander Mackie
Annie Henderson

Alexander Mackie
Annie Henderson
💍 1903/518

Widower
Widow

Coach Builder

72
42

Auckland
Auckland

48 years
6 months

House of Bridegroom, Mount Albert

03/178

15 January 1903

Rev. H. L. Walker, Central

No	35
Date of Notice	15 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Mackie	Annie Henderson
	💍 1903/518
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Coach Builder
Age	72	42
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	48 years	6 months
Marriage Place	House of Bridegroom, Mount Albert
Folio	03/178
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Walker, Central

15 January 1903

William Henry Mathew
Isabel Rainger

William Henry Matthew
Isabel Rainger
💍 1903/592

Widower
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

58
33

Auckland
Auckland

12 years

St. Paul's Church, Birkenhead

03/81

15 January 1903

Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	15 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Mathew	Isabel Rainger
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Matthew	Isabel Rainger
	💍 1903/592
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	58	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Birkenhead
Folio	03/81
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

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).