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 605

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Sydney Henry James

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

7 January 1903

Norman Leslie Lancelot Hugh Hanright
Alice Small

Norman Leslie Lancelot Hugh Hanright
Alice Small
💍 1903/715

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand

21
20

Midhurst
Midhurst

21 years
19 years

The Office of the Registrar at Stratford.

03/333

George James Small, father

7 January 1903

S. H. James, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Leslie Lancelot Hugh Hanright	Alice Small
	💍 1903/715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Midhurst	Midhurst
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar at Stratford.
Folio	03/333
Consent	George James Small, father
Date of Certificate	7 January 1903
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar

8 January 1903

Frederick Gooch
Adeline Gertrude Quin

Frederick Gooch
Adelean Gertrude Quinn
💍 1903/703

Bachelor
Spinster

Stable Keeper

24
22

Stratford
Stratford

14 years
2 years

The Roman Catholic Church at Stratford.

03/345

8 January 1903

Rev. P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Gooch	Adeline Gertrude Quin
BDM Match (91%)	Frederick Gooch	Adelean Gertrude Quinn
	💍 1903/703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stable Keeper
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	14 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Stratford.
Folio	03/345
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Treacy, Roman Catholic

13 January 1903

Harry Huxton
Jessie Aitcheson

Harry Luxton
Jessie Aitchison
💍 1903/1639

Bachelor
Spinster

Restaurant Keeper

33
27

Stratford
Patea

2 years
20 years

The Residence of J. Aitcheson at Patea

03/890

13 January 1903

Rev. H. Phewis, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	13 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Huxton	Jessie Aitcheson
BDM Match (93%)	Harry Luxton	Jessie Aitchison
	💍 1903/1639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Restaurant Keeper
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Patea
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of J. Aitcheson at Patea
Folio	03/890
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Phewis, Presbyterian

14 January 1903

Joseph Charles Vincent
Florence Mary Morrell

Joseph Charles Vincent
Florence Mary Morrell
💍 1903/716

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
21

Stratford
Stratford

7 months
7 months

The Office of the Registrar at Stratford.

03/334

14 January 1903

S. H. James, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	14 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Charles Vincent	Florence Mary Morrell
	💍 1903/716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	7 months	7 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar at Stratford.
Folio	03/334
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1903
Officiating Minister	S. H. James, Registrar

23 January 1903

Dafydd Pugh Evans
Josephine Strachan Craig

Dafydd Pugh Evans
Josephine Strachan Greig
💍 1903/696

Bachelor
Spinster

School teacher

25
24

Stratford
Stratford

20 years
10 years

The Manse at Stratford.

03/338

23 January 1903

Rev. B. Hutson, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	23 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dafydd Pugh Evans	Josephine Strachan Craig
BDM Match (96%)	Dafydd Pugh Evans	Josephine Strachan Greig
	💍 1903/696
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School teacher
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Manse at Stratford.
Folio	03/338
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Hutson, Presbyterian

26 January 1903

William Augustus Sherrid Bond
Alice Elizabeth Brigden Nichols

William Augustus Sherrid Bond
Alice Elizabeth Brigden Nicholls
💍 1903/697

Widower
Spinster

Printer

29
26

Stratford
Stratford

18 months
6 months

The Presbyterian Church at Stratford.

03/339

26 January 1903

Rev. B. Hutson, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	26 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Augustus Sherrid Bond	Alice Elizabeth Brigden Nichols
BDM Match (98%)	William Augustus Sherrid Bond	Alice Elizabeth Brigden Nicholls
	💍 1903/697
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	18 months	6 months
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church at Stratford.
Folio	03/339
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Hutson, Presbyterian

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).