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 1150

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 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

707

3 November 1903

Henrik Peterson
Kate Heath

Henrik Peterson
Kate Heath
💍 1903/5216

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

37
33

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
33 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

03/5063

3 November 1903

Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	707
Date of Notice	3 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henrik Peterson	Kate Heath
	💍 1903/5216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	33 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	03/5063
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

708

3 November 1903

Walter Layther
Amy Ann Boyce

Walter Layther
Amy Ann Boyce
💍 1903/5206

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand

27
29

Auckland
Remuera

3 days
49 years

St. Mark's Church

03/5004

3 November 1903

Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

No	708
Date of Notice	3 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Layther	Amy Ann Boyce
	💍 1903/5206
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	3 days	49 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church
Folio	03/5004
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

709

4 November 1903

Henry John Hamilton
Mary Cross

Henry John Hamilton
Mary Cross
💍 1903/5877

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

33
30

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
3 days

St. Benedict's Church

03/5895

4 November 1903

Rev. J. H. Fillan, Roman Catholic

No	709
Date of Notice	4 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Hamilton	Mary Cross
	💍 1903/5877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church
Folio	03/5895
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Fillan, Roman Catholic

710

4 November 1903

Joseph Livingstone Frazer-Hurst
Constance Marie Bulman

Joseph Livingstone Frazer-Hurst
Constance Marie Bulman
💍 1903/5202

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon

30
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 years

St. Andrew's Church

03/5023

Isabella Bulman, Mother of bride

4 November 1903

Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	710
Date of Notice	4 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Livingstone Frazer-Hurst	Constance Marie Bulman
	💍 1903/5202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church
Folio	03/5023
Consent	Isabella Bulman, Mother of bride
Date of Certificate	4 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

711

4 November 1903

Frederick James Quinn
Violet Dowell

Frederick Innes Quinn
Violet Dowell
💍 1903/5217

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

34
27

Auckland
Auckland

34 years
10 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

03/5064

4 November 1903

Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

No	711
Date of Notice	4 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Quinn	Violet Dowell
BDM Match (93%)	Frederick Innes Quinn	Violet Dowell
	💍 1903/5217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	34 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	03/5064
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Patterson, Roman Catholic

712

4 November 1903

Arthur Ernest Mills
Lily Louisa Shepherd

Arthur Ernest Miles
Lily Louisa Shepherd
💍 1903/5240

Bachelor
Spinster

Decorator

25
20

Auckland
Pitt Street

25 years
7 years

Methodist Church, Pitt Street

03/5087

Richard Shepherd, Father of bride

4 November 1903

Rev. C. H. Garland, Methodist

No	712
Date of Notice	4 November 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Mills	Lily Louisa Shepherd
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Ernest Miles	Lily Louisa Shepherd
	💍 1903/5240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Decorator
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Pitt Street
Length of Residence	25 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt Street
Folio	03/5087
Consent	Richard Shepherd, Father of bride
Date of Certificate	4 November 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Garland, Methodist

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).