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 1241

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 30 June 1903 Registrar Edmund Humphrey 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

210

4 April 1903

George Nicol Douglas
Ellen Margaret Vazey

George Nicole Douglas
Ellen Margaret Vazey
💍 1903/2048

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

31
23

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
23 years

St. Paul's Church

03/1570

4 April 1903

Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

No	210
Date of Notice	4 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Nicol Douglas	Ellen Margaret Vazey
BDM Match (98%)	George Nicole Douglas	Ellen Margaret Vazey
	💍 1903/2048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	03/1570
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

211

6 April 1903

Robert James Freeman
Edith McLaughlan

Robert James Freeman
Edith McLaughlan
💍 1903/2145

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

25
21

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
21 years

House of Father, Eden Terrace

03/1668

6 April 1903

Rev. J. G. Smaile, Primitive Methodist

No	211
Date of Notice	6 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Freeman	Edith McLaughlan
	💍 1903/2145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Father, Eden Terrace
Folio	03/1668
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Smaile, Primitive Methodist

212

6 April 1903

Joseph Very Grant
Elsie Jane Brookes

Joseph Vesey Grant
Elsie Jane Brookes
💍 1903/2162

Bachelor
Spinster

Servant

25
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Pitt Street

03/1663

6 April 1903

Rev. W. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

No	212
Date of Notice	6 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Very Grant	Elsie Jane Brookes
BDM Match (94%)	Joseph Vesey Grant	Elsie Jane Brookes
	💍 1903/2162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Servant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Pitt Street
Folio	03/1663
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Laycock, Primitive Methodist

213

6 April 1903

Henry Charles Wheeler
Jessie Attring

Henry Charles Wheeler
Jessie Utting
💍 1903/2062

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
31

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
31 years

House of Bride's Parents

03/1583

6 April 1903

Rev. R. Ferguson, Presbyterian

No	213
Date of Notice	6 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Wheeler	Jessie Attring
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Charles Wheeler	Jessie Utting
	💍 1903/2062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	31 years
Marriage Place	House of Bride's Parents
Folio	03/1583
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson, Presbyterian

214

6 April 1903

Thomas James Tye
Rose Mary Nicholas

Thomas James Tye
Rosemary Nicholas
💍 1903/2132

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

25
20

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
8 years

House of Bride's Father, Henderson

03/1654

6 April 1903

Rev. H. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	214
Date of Notice	6 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Tye	Rose Mary Nicholas
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas James Tye	Rosemary Nicholas
	💍 1903/2132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	House of Bride's Father, Henderson
Folio	03/1654
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

215

6 April 1903

Hubert Earle Vaile
Ethel Rose Mahon

Hubert Earle Vaile
Ethel Rose Mahon
💍 1903/2051

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Agent

26
25

Auckland
Auckland

26 years
25 years

St. Paul's Church

03/1573

6 April 1903

Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

No	215
Date of Notice	6 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Earle Vaile	Ethel Rose Mahon
	💍 1903/2051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Agent
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	03/1573
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 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).