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 1263

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

16 February 1903

Horace Arthur Watts
Annie Myrtle Harrison

Horace Arthur Watts
Annie Myrtle Harrison
💍 1903/520

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachman

23
23

Auckland
Auckland

1 year

1 Walker Street, Helensville

03/180

16 February 1903

Rev. H. J. Walker, Central Mission

No	97
Date of Notice	16 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Arthur Watts	Annie Myrtle Harrison
	💍 1903/520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachman
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year
Marriage Place	1 Walker Street, Helensville
Folio	03/180
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Walker, Central Mission

16 February 1903

Alfred William Jones
Ida Winifred Gibson

Alfred William Jones
Ida Winifred Gibson
💍 1903/576

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer

24
24

Auckland
Auckland

2 years

St. Paul's Church, Auckland

03/89

16 February 1903

Rev. C. E. Nelson, Church of England

No	98
Date of Notice	16 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Jones	Ida Winifred Gibson
	💍 1903/576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Auckland
Folio	03/89
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Nelson, Church of England

16 February 1903

Robert Laurence Halpin
Mary Mary Louise Coulling

Robert Laurence Halpin
Maude Mary Louise Coulling
💍 1903/608

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

31
30

Auckland
Auckland

16 years

2 Church, Parnell

03/138

16 February 1903

Rev. J. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

No	99
Date of Notice	16 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Laurence Halpin	Mary Mary Louise Coulling
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Laurence Halpin	Maude Mary Louise Coulling
	💍 1903/608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years
Marriage Place	2 Church, Parnell
Folio	03/138
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kehoe, Roman Catholic

100

17 February 1903

William Edgecombe Steming Edgecombe
Thelma Ada May Alexandra Spencer

William Edgecombe Stenning Edgecombe
Thelma Ada May Alexandra Spencer
💍 1903/510

Bachelor
Spinster

Oil & Colourman
Merchant

25
19

Auckland
Ponsonby

4 days
16 years

House of Mother

03/162

Frances May Edwards, Mother of Bride; Legal Guardian

17 February 1903

Rev. G. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	100
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edgecombe Steming Edgecombe	Thelma Ada May Alexandra Spencer
BDM Match (97%)	William Edgecombe Stenning Edgecombe	Thelma Ada May Alexandra Spencer
	💍 1903/510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Oil & Colourman	Merchant
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	4 days	16 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother
Folio	03/162
Consent	Frances May Edwards, Mother of Bride; Legal Guardian
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

101

17 February 1903

Albert John Hone
Ida Marcella Nott

Albert John Hone
Ida Marcella Nott
💍 1903/539

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
25

Auckland
Auckland

3 days

Registrar's Office, 3 Auckland

03/21

17 February 1903

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	101
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Hone	Ida Marcella Nott
	💍 1903/539
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, 3 Auckland
Folio	03/21
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

102

17 February 1903

John Walter Hollis
Mary Dillon

John Walter Hollis
Mary Dillon
💍 1903/448

Bachelor
Spinster

Detective Officer

32
28

Auckland
Auckland

7 years

House of H. S. Gray, Wynyard Street

03/108

17 February 1903

Rev. H. S. Gray, Presbyterian

No	102
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walter Hollis	Mary Dillon
	💍 1903/448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Detective Officer
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years
Marriage Place	House of H. S. Gray, Wynyard Street
Folio	03/108
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Gray, Presbyterian

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).