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 1279

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar W. Ryon

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

3 January 1903

Kennedy Ross
Eveline Shorthouse White

Kennedy Ross
Eveline Shorthouse White
💍 1903/512

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
2 years Auckland

Unitarian Church

03/172

3 January 1903

Rev. C. J. Lillie, Unitarian

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kennedy Ross	Eveline Shorthouse White
	💍 1903/512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years Auckland
Marriage Place	Unitarian Church
Folio	03/172
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Lillie, Unitarian

3 January 1903

Henry Joseph Haughton
Charlotte Elemore

Henry Joseph Houghton
Charlotte Elsmore
💍 1903/421

Bachelor
Spinster

News Machinist

28
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
15 days Auckland

St. Thomas Church

03/57

3 January 1903

Rev. N. M. Dr. Rinn, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Joseph Haughton	Charlotte Elemore
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Joseph Houghton	Charlotte Elsmore
	💍 1903/421
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	News Machinist
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	15 days Auckland
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Church
Folio	03/57
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. M. Dr. Rinn, Church of England

3 January 1903

Alfred Nathaniel Hooper
Eliza May Fisher

Alfred Nathaniel Hooper
Eliza May Fisher
💍 1903/399

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

26
19

Auckland
Auckland

26 years
14 years

House of Bride, Otahuhu

03/134

Richard Fisher, father of bride

3 January 1903

Rev. J. J. Lane, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	3 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Nathaniel Hooper	Eliza May Fisher
	💍 1903/399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	14 years
Marriage Place	House of Bride, Otahuhu
Folio	03/134
Consent	Richard Fisher, father of bride
Date of Certificate	3 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane, Roman Catholic

5 January 1903

James Hutchinson Kinnear
Margaret Annie Kelly

James Hutchings Kinneard
Margaret Annie Kelly
💍 1903/3101

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

25
25

Auckland
Auckland

7 years
7 years

House of Mother of Bride, Burleigh St.

03/122

5 January 1903

Rev. W. F. Dixon, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hutchinson Kinnear	Margaret Annie Kelly
BDM Match (92%)	James Hutchings Kinneard	Margaret Annie Kelly
	💍 1903/3101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother of Bride, Burleigh St.
Folio	03/122
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Dixon, Presbyterian

5 January 1903

John William Robinson
Sadie Mercedes Mc-Intyre

John William Robinson
Sadie Mercedes McIntyre
💍 1903/1324

Bachelor
Spinster

Artilleryman

25
23

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
23 years Ponsonby

Church of the Sacred Heart, Ponsonby

03/2899

5 January 1903

Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Robinson	Sadie Mercedes Mc-Intyre
BDM Match (98%)	John William Robinson	Sadie Mercedes McIntyre
	💍 1903/1324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Artilleryman
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	23 years Ponsonby
Marriage Place	Church of the Sacred Heart, Ponsonby
Folio	03/2899
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

5 January 1903

Arthur John Curtis
Frances Surrey Shayle George

Arthur John Curtis
Francis Mary Shayle George
💍 1903/424

Bachelor
Spinster

Secretary

27
25

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
25 years Ponsonby

All Saints Church

03/61

5 January 1903

Rev. W. Calder, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	5 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Curtis	Frances Surrey Shayle George
BDM Match (91%)	Arthur John Curtis	Francis Mary Shayle George
	💍 1903/424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Secretary
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years Ponsonby
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	03/61
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Calder, 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).