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 444

District of Woodville Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar P. M. Crawford

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

12 January 1903

Thomas Robert Boardman
Bridget Mahoney

Thomas Robert Boardman
Bridget Mahoney
💍 1903/900

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

39 years
38 years

Woodville
Woodville

3 days
5 months

Mr. Maurice Healey's residence, Victoria Block, Woodville

03/789

12 January 1903

Edward Robertshawe, Church of England

No	56
Date of Notice	12 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robert Boardman	Bridget Mahoney
	💍 1903/900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	39 years	38 years
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Woodville
Length of Residence	3 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Mr. Maurice Healey's residence, Victoria Block, Woodville
Folio	03/789
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Edward Robertshawe, Church of England

14 January 1903

Henry Lyall Palmer
Joan Margaret McIlymont

Henry Lyall Palmer
Joan Margaret McClymont
💍 1903/1439

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Farmer

45 years
42 years

Woodville
Woodville

20 years
16 years

The Registrar's Office, Woodville

03/490

14 January 1903

William Gibb Crawford, Registrar

No	57
Date of Notice	14 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lyall Palmer	Joan Margaret McIlymont
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Lyall Palmer	Joan Margaret McClymont
	💍 1903/1439
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Farmer
Age	45 years	42 years
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Woodville
Length of Residence	20 years	16 years
Marriage Place	The Registrar's Office, Woodville
Folio	03/490
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1903
Officiating Minister	William Gibb Crawford, Registrar

26 January 1903

Robert Hampton Dobbyn
Mary Ellen Dobbyn

Robert Hampton
Mary Ellen Dobbyn
💍 1903/1440

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

26 years
19 years

Woodville
Woodville

2 years
15 years

Mr. Laurence Joseph Dobbyn's residence, Masterton Road, Woodville

03/421

Laurence Joseph Dobbyn, Father

26 January 1903

Edward Duffy, Roman Catholic

No	58
Date of Notice	26 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hampton Dobbyn	Mary Ellen Dobbyn
BDM Match (83%)	Robert Hampton	Mary Ellen Dobbyn
	💍 1903/1440
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	26 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Woodville
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Mr. Laurence Joseph Dobbyn's residence, Masterton Road, Woodville
Folio	03/421
Consent	Laurence Joseph Dobbyn, Father
Date of Certificate	26 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Edward Duffy, Roman Catholic

31 January 1903

Arthur Rhodes Williams
Frederikke Mary Hedevig West

Arthur Rhodes Williams
Fredericke Mary Hedewig West
💍 1903/749

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Master
Domestic Duties

29 years
23 years

Woodville
Palmerston North

5 years

The Church of England, Palmerston North

03/512

31 January 1903

Charles Coleridge Harper, M.A., Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	31 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Rhodes Williams	Frederikke Mary Hedevig West
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Rhodes Williams	Fredericke Mary Hedewig West
	💍 1903/749
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Master	Domestic Duties
Age	29 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	03/512
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Charles Coleridge Harper, M.A., Church of England

9 February 1903

Frederick William Holder
Lizzie Crawley

Frederick William Holder
Lizzie Crawley
💍 1903/1443

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Tailoress

36 years
23 years

Woodville
Woodville

16 years
1 year

Mr. Frederick Hopkinson's residence, Fox Street, Woodville

03/498

George Hounsell, Methodist

No	60
Date of Notice	9 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Holder	Lizzie Crawley
	💍 1903/1443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Tailoress
Age	36 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Woodville
Length of Residence	16 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Mr. Frederick Hopkinson's residence, Fox Street, Woodville
Folio	03/498
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	George Hounsell, Methodist

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).