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 1265

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

10 February 1903

Roderick George Mackay
Lucinda Esther Cruller

Roderick George MacKay
Lucinda Esther Cruller
💍 1903/538

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
21

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
2 years

Registrar Office

03/20

10 February 1903

J. Culpan, Deputy Registrar

No	85
Date of Notice	10 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick George Mackay	Lucinda Esther Cruller
BDM Match (98%)	Roderick George MacKay	Lucinda Esther Cruller
	💍 1903/538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office
Folio	03/20
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1903
Officiating Minister	J. Culpan, Deputy Registrar

11 February 1903

Hugh Adolph Amesbury
Jessie Clark

Hugh Adolph Amesbury
Jessie Clark
💍 1903/612

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

23
23

Auckland
Devonport

3 days
2 years

Methodist Church

03/160

11 February 1903

Rev. J. J. Chapman, Methodist

No	86
Date of Notice	11 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Adolph Amesbury	Jessie Clark
	💍 1903/612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Devonport
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	03/160
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Chapman, Methodist

11 February 1903

Leonard Ford Simmons
Isabella Plummer

Leonard Fred Simmons
Isabella Plummer
💍 1903/408

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

23
20

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
2 years

St. Matthew's Church

03/52

Albert W. E. Gillam, Father

11 February 1903

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

No	87
Date of Notice	11 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Ford Simmons	Isabella Plummer
BDM Match (95%)	Leonard Fred Simmons	Isabella Plummer
	💍 1903/408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	03/52
Consent	Albert W. E. Gillam, Father
Date of Certificate	11 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Church of England

12 February 1903

Christopher Charles Winstanley
Catherine Nora Conway

Christopher Charles Winstanley
Catherine Nora Conway
💍 1903/599

Bachelor
Spinster

Sanitary Inspector

35
30

Auckland
South Auckland

1 year
30 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

03/147

12 February 1903

Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	88
Date of Notice	12 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Charles Winstanley	Catherine Nora Conway
	💍 1903/599
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sanitary Inspector
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	South Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	03/147
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

12 February 1903

George Gordon Matheson
Madge Bennett

George Gordon Matheson
Madge Bennett
💍 1903/426

Bachelor
Spinster

Theatrical Agent

27
21

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
5 years

All Saints Church

03/63

12 February 1903

Rev. W. Calder, Church of England

No	89
Date of Notice	12 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gordon Matheson	Madge Bennett
	💍 1903/426
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Theatrical Agent
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	5 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	03/63
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Calder, Church of England

12 February 1903

William John Ward
Alice Mary Linker

William John Ward
Alice Mary Linaker
💍 1903/594

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
23

Auckland
Remuera

1 year
8 years

St. Mark's Church

03/83

12 February 1903

Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

No	90
Date of Notice	12 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Ward	Alice Mary Linker
BDM Match (97%)	William John Ward	Alice Mary Linaker
	💍 1903/594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	1 year	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church
Folio	03/83
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 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).