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 1269

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

30 January 1903

Hugh Price
Fanny Emma Plumley

Hugh Wynne Price
Fanny Emma Plumley
💍 1903/422

Widower
Spinster

Gentleman

40
44

Auckland
Auckland

3 days

St. Thomas Church

03/58

30 January 1903

Rev. H. B. Jones, Church of England

No	61
Date of Notice	30 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Price	Fanny Emma Plumley
BDM Match (81%)	Hugh Wynne Price	Fanny Emma Plumley
	💍 1903/422
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	40	44
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Thomas Church
Folio	03/58
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Jones, Church of England

30 January 1903

William Soares
Sarah Shine O'Connell

William Soares
Sarah O'Connell
💍 1903/620

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
28

Auckland
Auckland

20 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

03/145

30 January 1903

Rev. J. T. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	62
Date of Notice	30 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Soares	Sarah Shine O'Connell
BDM Match (86%)	William Soares	Sarah O'Connell
	💍 1903/620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	03/145
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Patterson, Roman Catholic

31 January 1903

Francis Phillip Burgess
Annie Dobell Jarrett

Francis Phillip Burgess
Annie Isobel Garrett
💍 1903/446

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

32
24

Auckland
12 Beake Street

32 years

House of Mother of Bride

03/106

31 January 1903

Rev. H. S. Bray, Presbyterian

No	63
Date of Notice	31 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Phillip Burgess	Annie Dobell Jarrett
BDM Match (90%)	Francis Phillip Burgess	Annie Isobel Garrett
	💍 1903/446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	12 Beake Street
Length of Residence	32 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother of Bride
Folio	03/106
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Bray, Presbyterian

31 January 1903

James Wallace Irvine
Rose McMurray

James Wallace Irvin
Rose McAneney
💍 1903/513

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
26

Auckland
20 Arthur Street

25 years

House of Brother of

03/173

31 January 1903

Rev. C. Watt, Church of Christ

No	64
Date of Notice	31 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wallace Irvine	Rose McMurray
BDM Match (78%)	James Wallace Irvin	Rose McAneney
	💍 1903/513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	20 Arthur Street
Length of Residence	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Brother of
Folio	03/173
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Watt, Church of Christ

2 February 1903

James Birttles
Annie Griggs

James Birtles
Ann Griggs
💍 1903/587

Widower
Spinster

Settler

54
47

Auckland
Parnell

3 days
17 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

03/99

2 February 1903

Rev. J. Churchway, Church of England

No	65
Date of Notice	2 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Birttles	Annie Griggs
BDM Match (88%)	James Birtles	Ann Griggs
	💍 1903/587
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	54	47
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	3 days	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	03/99
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Churchway, Church of England

2 February 1903

Alfred Butt
Kathleen Woolley

Alfred Butt
Kathleen Woolley
💍 1903/3113

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

23
24

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
15 years

Registrar's Office

03/16

2 February 1903

J. Culpan, Deputy Registrar

No	66
Date of Notice	2 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Butt	Kathleen Woolley
	💍 1903/3113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	03/16
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1903
Officiating Minister	J. Culpan, Deputy 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).