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 1277

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Edward H. Lyons

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

6 January 1903

Arthur Dobbs
Maude Lacon

Arthur Dobbs
Maude Lacon
💍 1903/1325

Bachelor
Spinster

Decorator

28
26

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
20 years

Church of The Sacred Heart, Ponsonby

03/290

6 January 1903

Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	6 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Dobbs	Maude Lacon
	💍 1903/1325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Decorator
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of The Sacred Heart, Ponsonby
Folio	03/290
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

6 January 1903

Alfred Edward Starck
Alice Matilda Japp

Alfred Edward Starck
Alice Matilda Tapp
💍 1903/582

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

26
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
30 years

Church of England, Arch Hill

03/95

6 January 1903

Rev. E. Haselden, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	6 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Starck	Alice Matilda Japp
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Edward Starck	Alice Matilda Tapp
	💍 1903/582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Arch Hill
Folio	03/95
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Haselden, Church of England

6 January 1903

George Charles Gilmour
Mary Orr Hunter

George Charles Gilmore
Mary Ore Hunter
💍 1903/589

Widower
Spinster

Merchant

51
28

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
4 years

St. Benedict's Church, Mount Eden

03/101

6 January 1903

Rev. E. Macfarlane, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	6 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Charles Gilmour	Mary Orr Hunter
BDM Match (92%)	George Charles Gilmore	Mary Ore Hunter
	💍 1903/589
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	51	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church, Mount Eden
Folio	03/101
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Macfarlane, Church of England

6 January 1903

Samuel Johnson
Elizabeth Gordon Rippsy

Samuel Johnson
Elizabeth Gordon Rippey
💍 1903/517

Bachelor
Spinster

Conductor

22
21

Auckland
Auckland

8 years

House of Father of Bridegroom, East Street

03/147

6 January 1903

Rev. H. J. Walker, Central Mission

No	16
Date of Notice	6 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Johnson	Elizabeth Gordon Rippsy
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Johnson	Elizabeth Gordon Rippey
	💍 1903/517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Conductor
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bridegroom, East Street
Folio	03/147
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Walker, Central Mission

7 January 1903

William George Abbott
Ella Augusta Fallwell

William George Abbott
Ella Augusta Fallwell
💍 1903/534

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
19

Auckland
Auckland

9 years
14 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

03/1

7 January 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	7 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Abbott	Ella Augusta Fallwell
	💍 1903/534
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	03/1
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

7 January 1903

William Frederick Woolner
Mary Margaret Brickell

William Frederick Woolner
Mary Margaret Buckell
💍 1903/544

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
27

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
5 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

03/2

7 January 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	18
Date of Notice	7 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Woolner	Mary Margaret Brickell
BDM Match (95%)	William Frederick Woolner	Mary Margaret Buckell
	💍 1903/544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	03/2
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

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).