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 1195

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 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

474

18 July 1903

Henry George Butcher
Mabel Ann Watts

Henry George Butcher
Mabel Ann Watts
💍 1903/3400

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
30

Auckland

3 days
30 years

Methodist Church, Pitt Street

03/3423

18 July 1903

Rev. C. H. Farland, Methodist

No	474
Date of Notice	18 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Butcher	Mabel Ann Watts
	💍 1903/3400
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt Street
Folio	03/3423
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Farland, Methodist

475

21 July 1903

William Ernest Bouttell
Alice Josephine Rosser

William Ernest Bouttell
Alice Josephine Rosser
💍 1903/3087

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

25
22

Auckland
Auckland

7 years
22 years

St. Matthew's Church

03/3719

21 July 1903

Rev. W. S. Pilling, Church of England

No	475
Date of Notice	21 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Bouttell	Alice Josephine Rosser
	💍 1903/3087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	03/3719
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Pilling, Church of England

476

21 July 1903

Richard Pearce
Louisa Jane Bowden

Richard Pearce
Louisa Jane Bowden
💍 1903/3951

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

25
17

Auckland
Remuera

5 years
2 years

St. Thomas' Church

03/3380

Father

21 July 1903

Rev. G. Beatty, Church of England

No	476
Date of Notice	21 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Pearce	Louisa Jane Bowden
	💍 1903/3951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church
Folio	03/3380
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	21 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Beatty, Church of England

477

23 July 1903

Edward James Grogan
Sarah Louisa Young

Edward James Grogan
Sarah Louisa Young
💍 1903/3086

Bachelor
Spinster

Furnisher

24
18

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
5 years

St. Matthew's Church

03/3718

Mother

23 July 1903

Rev. W. E. Pilling, Church of England

No	477
Date of Notice	23 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Grogan	Sarah Louisa Young
	💍 1903/3086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Furnisher
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	03/3718
Consent	Mother
Date of Certificate	23 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Pilling, Church of England

478

23 July 1903

Leonard Vernon Richardson
Alice Rose Austin

Leonard Fernor Richardson
Alice Rose Austin
💍 1903/3944

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercer

27
23

Auckland
England

2 years
23 years

St. Paul's Church

03/3374

23 July 1903

Rev. F. W. Walker, Church of England

No	478
Date of Notice	23 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Vernon Richardson	Alice Rose Austin
BDM Match (96%)	Leonard Fernor Richardson	Alice Rose Austin
	💍 1903/3944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercer
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	England
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	03/3374
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Walker, Church of England

479

24 July 1903

James Pennington Bates
Harriette Minnie Graves Brinkley

James Pennington Bates
Harriette Minna Graves Brinkley
💍 1903/20

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

21
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
6 years

St. James' Church

03/3390

24 July 1903

Rev. B. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	479
Date of Notice	24 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pennington Bates	Harriette Minnie Graves Brinkley
BDM Match (97%)	James Pennington Bates	Harriette Minna Graves Brinkley
	💍 1903/20
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church
Folio	03/3390
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. L. Walker, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).