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 660

District of Inglewood Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Robert Stevens

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

440

26 January 1903

David Clegg
Ellen Hallier

David Clegg
Ellen Hellier
💍 1903/710

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

29
27

Inglewood
Inglewood

1 year
1 year

The Church of England at Inglewood

03/351

26 January 1903

Rev. C. W. Robinson

No	440
Date of Notice	26 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Clegg	Ellen Hallier
BDM Match (96%)	David Clegg	Ellen Hellier
	💍 1903/710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Inglewood	Inglewood
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	The Church of England at Inglewood
Folio	03/351
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Robinson

441

31 January 1903

George Thomas Stimpson
Jane Elizabeth Woodhead

George Thomas Stimpson
Jane Elizabeth Woodhead
💍 1903/506

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
20

Inglewood
Inglewood

10 years
20 years

The residence of Mrs. B. Woodhead

03/309

Betsy Woodhead, mother of Jane Elizabeth Woodhead

31 January 1903

Rev. A. Ashcroft

No	441
Date of Notice	31 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Stimpson	Jane Elizabeth Woodhead
	💍 1903/506
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Inglewood	Inglewood
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mrs. B. Woodhead
Folio	03/309
Consent	Betsy Woodhead, mother of Jane Elizabeth Woodhead
Date of Certificate	31 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Ashcroft

442

4 February 1903

William Benson
Alice May Churcher

William Benson
Alice May Churcher
💍 1903/711

Widower
Spinster

Sawyer

34
21

Tariki, Taranaki
Tariki, Taranaki

1 year
10 months

The Church of England at Tariki

03/352

4 February 1903

Rev. C. W. Robinson

No	442
Date of Notice	4 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Benson	Alice May Churcher
	💍 1903/711
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Tariki, Taranaki	Tariki, Taranaki
Length of Residence	1 year	10 months
Marriage Place	The Church of England at Tariki
Folio	03/352
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Robinson

443

17 February 1903

Tom Clough
Emma Elizabeth Walker

Tom Clough
Emma Elizabeth Walker
💍 1903/504

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

33
22

Inglewood
Moa District

1 year
8 years

The Office of the Registrar at Inglewood

03/307

17 February 1903

Robert Stevens

No	443
Date of Notice	17 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Clough	Emma Elizabeth Walker
	💍 1903/504
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Inglewood	Moa District
Length of Residence	1 year	8 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar at Inglewood
Folio	03/307
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Robert Stevens

444

23 February 1903

Donald Norman Watson
Anne Sadgrove

Donald Norman Watson
Anne Sadgrove
💍 1903/505

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Housekeeper

70
49

Inglewood
Inglewood

3 days
3 days

The Office of the Registrar at Inglewood

03/308

23 February 1903

Robert Stevens

No	444
Date of Notice	23 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Norman Watson	Anne Sadgrove
	💍 1903/505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Housekeeper
Age	70	49
Dwelling Place	Inglewood	Inglewood
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar at Inglewood
Folio	03/308
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Robert Stevens

445

27 February 1903

Ben Dudley
Florence Louise Hudson

Ben Dudley
Florence Louise Hudson
💍 1903/508

Bachelor
Spinster

Primitive Methodist Minister

30
24

Inglewood
Inglewood

2 years
1 week

The Primitive Methodist Church at Inglewood

03/311

27 February 1903

Rev. John Nixon

No	445
Date of Notice	27 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ben Dudley	Florence Louise Hudson
	💍 1903/508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Primitive Methodist Minister
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Inglewood	Inglewood
Length of Residence	2 years	1 week
Marriage Place	The Primitive Methodist Church at Inglewood
Folio	03/311
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Nixon

446

9 March 1903

William Mason Coughlan
Isabella Ada Mary Price

William Nixon Coughlan
Isabella Ada Mary Price
💍 1903/712

Bachelor
Spinster

Native School Teacher

28
21

Egmont Village, Taranaki
Egmont Road, Taranaki

5 months
21 years

The residence of Richard Price, Egmont Road

03/353

9 March 1903

Rev. C. W. Robinson

No	446
Date of Notice	9 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mason Coughlan	Isabella Ada Mary Price
BDM Match (93%)	William Nixon Coughlan	Isabella Ada Mary Price
	💍 1903/712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Native School Teacher
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Egmont Village, Taranaki	Egmont Road, Taranaki
Length of Residence	5 months	21 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Richard Price, Egmont Road
Folio	03/353
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Robinson

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).