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 1273

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Edwin 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

15 January 1903

William Henry Wharton
Lily Wiseley

William Henry Wharton
Lilian Wiseley
💍 1903/2161

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

29
21

Auckland
Hobsonville

23 years
21 years

Primitive Methodist Church

03/1662

15 January 1903

Rev. J. H. Ramsbottom, Primitive Methodist

No	37
Date of Notice	15 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Wharton	Lily Wiseley
BDM Match (89%)	William Henry Wharton	Lilian Wiseley
	💍 1903/2161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Hobsonville
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church
Folio	03/1662
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Ramsbottom, Primitive Methodist

16 January 1903

Constantine Thomas McMillan
Kate Campbell

Constantine Thomas McMillan
Kate Campbell
💍 1903/617

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
24

Auckland
Auckland

32 years
24 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

03/142

16 January 1903

Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	16 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Constantine Thomas McMillan	Kate Campbell
	💍 1903/617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	32 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	03/142
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

16 January 1903

Alfred Goodare
Mary Elizabeth Nickles

Alfred Goodare
Mary Elizabeth Nickles
💍 1903/550

Divorced
Spinster

Tallow Refiner

39
27

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
20 years

Registrar's Office

03/10

16 January 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	16 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Goodare	Mary Elizabeth Nickles
	💍 1903/550
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Tallow Refiner
Age	39	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/10
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

17 January 1903

William Henry Clark
Evelyn Leydon

William Henry Clark
Evelyn Leydon
💍 1903/34

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

26
23

Auckland
Auckland

7 years
20 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

03/143

17 January 1903

Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	40
Date of Notice	17 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Clark	Evelyn Leydon
	💍 1903/34
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	03/143
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

17 January 1903

James Sanders
Lella Maud Gower

James Sanders
Lella Maud Youd
💍 1903/429

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Grower

42
20

Auckland
Parnell

30 years
2 years

House of Bride

03/111

George Gower, Father

17 January 1903

Rev. B. T. Hancox, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	17 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sanders	Lella Maud Gower
BDM Match (88%)	James Sanders	Lella Maud Youd
	💍 1903/429
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Grower
Age	42	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	30 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Bride
Folio	03/111
Consent	George Gower, Father
Date of Certificate	17 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. T. Hancox, Presbyterian

19 January 1903

Henry Philp
Annie Furnwald

Henry Philp
Annie Turnwald
💍 1903/549

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
24

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
3 years

Registrar's Office

03/9

19 January 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	42
Date of Notice	19 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Philp	Annie Furnwald
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Philp	Annie Turnwald
	💍 1903/549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/9
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 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).