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 1216

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

354

28 May 1903

Louis William Wright
Beany Horne

Louis William Wright
Beaney Horne
💍 1903/2099

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

31
28

Auckland
Auckland

31 years
28 years

House of Mr. D. Rush, 28 Sale Street

03/1627

28 May 1903

Rev. B. Threewick, Presbyterian

No	354
Date of Notice	28 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis William Wright	Beany Horne
BDM Match (96%)	Louis William Wright	Beaney Horne
	💍 1903/2099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	31 years	28 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. D. Rush, 28 Sale Street
Folio	03/1627
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Threewick, Presbyterian

355

28 May 1903

Francis Collingwood Saunders
Winifred Evelyn Cornish

Francis Collingwood Saunders
Winifred Evelyn Cornish
💍 1903/2124

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Pitt Street

03/1646

28 May 1903

Rev. C. H. Garland, Methodist

No	355
Date of Notice	28 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Collingwood Saunders	Winifred Evelyn Cornish
	💍 1903/2124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt Street
Folio	03/1646
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Garland, Methodist

356

30 May 1903

William Morton Radford
Elizabeth Sarah Nabbs

William Morton Radford
Elizabeth Nabbs
💍 1903/2046

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Merchant

19
22

Auckland
Auckland

19 years
22 years

Church of England, Ellerslie

03/1560

Henry Radford, father

30 May 1903

Rev. F. W. Walker, Church of England

No	356
Date of Notice	30 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Morton Radford	Elizabeth Sarah Nabbs
BDM Match (86%)	William Morton Radford	Elizabeth Nabbs
	💍 1903/2046
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Merchant
Age	19	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	19 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ellerslie
Folio	03/1560
Consent	Henry Radford, father
Date of Certificate	30 May 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Walker, Church of England

357

30 May 1903

Hugh Carter Hedley
Ethel Maria Grey

Hugh Hedley
Ethel Maria Grey
💍 1903/2153

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

27
23

Auckland
Auckland

27 years
23 years

House of Mother of Bridegroom, Mt. Eden

03/1675

30 May 1903

Rev. J. B. Suryel, Baptist

No	357
Date of Notice	30 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Carter Hedley	Ethel Maria Grey
BDM Match (81%)	Hugh Hedley	Ethel Maria Grey
	💍 1903/2153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother of Bridegroom, Mt. Eden
Folio	03/1675
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Suryel, Baptist

358

30 May 1903

Gerald James Harwood
Annie Elizabeth Briscombe

Gerald James Harwood
Annie Elizabeth Briscombe
💍 1903/3198

Employee
Spinster

Railway

43
38

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
5 years

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

03/2348

30 May 1903

Rev. W. E. Fillam, Church of England

No	358
Date of Notice	30 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald James Harwood	Annie Elizabeth Briscombe
	💍 1903/3198
Condition	Employee	Spinster
Profession	Railway
Age	43	38
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	03/2348
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Fillam, Church of England

359

30 May 1903

Francis Edward Cooney
Sarah Cecilia Burrows

Francis Edward Cooney
Sarah Cecelia Burrows
💍 1903/2052

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
28

Auckland
Auckland

13 years

St. Andrew's Church, Newton

03/1574

30 May 1903

Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

No	359
Date of Notice	30 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Edward Cooney	Sarah Cecilia Burrows
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Edward Cooney	Sarah Cecelia Burrows
	💍 1903/2052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Newton
Folio	03/1574
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 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).