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 188

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 December 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

1 October 1903

Arthur Petherbridge
Minnie Felis Spence

Arthur Tetherbridge
Minnie Felix
💍 1903/6073

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

20
18

Cobden
Hokitika

14 years
2 months

The Private residence of Mrs. Wm. Petherbridge, Cobden

03/5839

Frederick Spence, father

1 October 1903

Rev. Thos. Trestrail

No	32
Date of Notice	1 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Petherbridge	Minnie Felis Spence
BDM Match (76%)	Arthur Tetherbridge	Minnie Felix
	💍 1903/6073
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Cobden	Hokitika
Length of Residence	14 years	2 months
Marriage Place	The Private residence of Mrs. Wm. Petherbridge, Cobden
Folio	03/5839
Consent	Frederick Spence, father
Date of Certificate	1 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Trestrail

3 October 1903

Silas Charles Martin
Annie Young Martin

Silas Charles Martin
Annie Young
💍 1903/6068

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Waitress

23
21

Greymouth
Greymouth

23 years
3 years

The private residence of Mrs. Sarah Jane Martin

03/5834

3 October 1903

Rev. J. W. York

No	33
Date of Notice	3 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Silas Charles Martin	Annie Young Martin
BDM Match (81%)	Silas Charles Martin	Annie Young
	💍 1903/6068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Waitress
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	23 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mrs. Sarah Jane Martin
Folio	03/5834
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. York

3 October 1903

Philip John Bond
Ethel May Leocks

Philip John Bond
Ethel May Cocks
💍 1903/6069

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Teacher

26
20

Greymouth
Greymouth

6 years
4 years

Church of England, Greymouth

03/5835

Hannah Maria Leocks, mother (the father being out of the colony)

3 October 1903

Rev. Arch. Stace

No	34
Date of Notice	3 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip John Bond	Ethel May Leocks
BDM Match (94%)	Philip John Bond	Ethel May Cocks
	💍 1903/6069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Teacher
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Greymouth
Folio	03/5835
Consent	Hannah Maria Leocks, mother (the father being out of the colony)
Date of Certificate	3 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arch. Stace

5 October 1903

Olaf Johnson
Lilian Thyra Gibson

Olaf Johnson
Lilian Thyra Gibson
💍 1903/6071

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

25
16

Moana
Greymouth

6 months
16 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

03/5837

Peter Gibson, father

5 October 1903

B. Harper

No	35
Date of Notice	5 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Olaf Johnson	Lilian Thyra Gibson
	💍 1903/6071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	25	16
Dwelling Place	Moana	Greymouth
Length of Residence	6 months	16 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	03/5837
Consent	Peter Gibson, father
Date of Certificate	5 October 1903
Officiating Minister	B. Harper

14 October 1903

Alfred George Davidson
Annie Latimer

Alfred George Davidson
Annie Latimer
💍 1903/6077

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

24
37

Reefton
Reefton

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse at Greymouth

03/5843

14 October 1903

Rev. Robt. Stewart

No	36
Date of Notice	14 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George Davidson	Annie Latimer
	💍 1903/6077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	24	37
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse at Greymouth
Folio	03/5843
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. Stewart

16 October 1903

Charles Henry North
Temperance Annie Best Martin

Charles Henry North
Temperence Annie Best Martin
💍 1903/6074

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

35
27

Greymouth
Greymouth

33 years
4 years

Residence of Rev. Thomas Trestrail, Methodist Manse, Chapel Street, Greymouth

03/5840

16 October 1903

Rev. Thos. Trestrail

No	37
Date of Notice	16 October 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry North	Temperance Annie Best Martin
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Henry North	Temperence Annie Best Martin
	💍 1903/6074
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	33 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. Thomas Trestrail, Methodist Manse, Chapel Street, Greymouth
Folio	03/5840
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Trestrail

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).