Intentions to Marry, 1903 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840424, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, October 10 2025.

1903 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 186

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 30 September 1903 Registrar Benjamin Harper

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

8 July 1903

John Charles Tanner
Christina Margaret Parker

John Charles Tanner
Christina Margaret Parker
💍 1903/4403

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
25

Greymouth
Greymouth

25 years
6 years

Trinity Church, Greymouth

03/4164

8 September 1903

Rev. G. W. York

No	23
Date of Notice	8 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Tanner	Christina Margaret Parker
	💍 1903/4403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	25 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	03/4164
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York

15 July 1903

John Mathew Carruthers
Johanna Mary Dargan

John Mathew Carruthers
Johanna Mary Dargan
💍 1903/4433

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer Driver

25
24

Coal Creek
Greymouth

1 year
24 years

Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth

03/4171

15 July 1903

Dean D. Marent

No	24
Date of Notice	15 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mathew Carruthers	Johanna Mary Dargan
	💍 1903/4433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer Driver
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Coal Creek	Greymouth
Length of Residence	1 year	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Greymouth
Folio	03/4171
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Dean D. Marent

25 July 1903

Edward Bourke
Minnie Batt

Edward Bourke
Minnie Batt
💍 1903/4404

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

35
20

Barrytown
Seven Mile

35 years
6 weeks

The residence of Mr. Peter Wilson, 7 mile near Point Elizabeth

03/4165

John Batt, father

25 July 1903

Rev. G. W. York

No	25
Date of Notice	25 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bourke	Minnie Batt
	💍 1903/4404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Barrytown	Seven Mile
Length of Residence	35 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr. Peter Wilson, 7 mile near Point Elizabeth
Folio	03/4165
Consent	John Batt, father
Date of Certificate	25 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York

29 July 1903

Cornelius Francis Sexton
Constance Haigh

Cornelius Francis Sexton
Constance Haigh
💍 1903/4412

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler Maker
Domestic

29
25

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 years
3 years

Church of England, Greymouth

03/4166

29 July 1903

Rev. G. W. York

No	26
Date of Notice	29 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Francis Sexton	Constance Haigh
	💍 1903/4412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler Maker	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	03/4166
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York

3 August 1903

Herbert Archer Bowell
Bessie Cain

Herbert Archer Boswell
Bessie Cain
💍 1903/4423

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
17

Greymouth
Greymouth

4 years
17 years

At the residence of Mr. John Cain, Preston Road, Greymouth

03/4169

John Samuel Cain, father

3 August 1903

Rev. G. W. York

No	27
Date of Notice	3 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Archer Bowell	Bessie Cain
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Archer Boswell	Bessie Cain
	💍 1903/4423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 years	17 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. John Cain, Preston Road, Greymouth
Folio	03/4169
Consent	John Samuel Cain, father
Date of Certificate	3 August 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. York

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).