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 619

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1903 Registrar Henry Maxwell

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

3066

24 January 1903

William L. Imrie Taylor
Mary Davies

John Thomas Taylor
Mary Davies
💍 1903/3069

Bachelor
Spinster

Coalman

23 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

19 years
19 years

In the house of John Thomas Taylor, Fortnight Street, Dunedin

03/1287

24 January 1903

James Guy

No	3066
Date of Notice	24 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William L. Imrie Taylor	Mary Davies
BDM Match (70%)	John Thomas Taylor	Mary Davies
	💍 1903/3069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coalman
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	19 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John Thomas Taylor, Fortnight Street, Dunedin
Folio	03/1287
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1903
Officiating Minister	James Guy

3067

26 January 1903

George Robertson
Maggie Jane Fisher

George Robertson
Maggie Jane Fisher
💍 1903/1003

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
1 week

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

03/1192

26 January 1903

H. Maxwell, R.

No	3067
Date of Notice	26 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robertson	Maggie Jane Fisher
	💍 1903/1003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	03/1192
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1903
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, R.

3068

27 January 1903

William Dawson
Mary Ann Dawson

William Dawson
Laura Leaming
💍 1903/559

Bachelor
Spinster

Dealer

20 years
20 years

Dunedin
Tapanui

8 months
3 months

In St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin

03/1222

27 January 1903

Chas. A. Fraser

No	3068
Date of Notice	27 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dawson	Mary Ann Dawson
BDM Match (60%)	William Dawson	Laura Leaming
	💍 1903/559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dealer
Age	20 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Tapanui
Length of Residence	8 months	3 months
Marriage Place	In St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	03/1222
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1903
Officiating Minister	Chas. A. Fraser

3069

29 January 1903

Thomas Oakley
Barbara Carmichael

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

26 years
22 years

Canons Road
South Dunedin

3 years
22 years

In the house of Mr. Thomas, South Dunedin

03/1290

29 January 1903

A. W. Chandler

No	3069
Date of Notice	29 January 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Oakley	Barbara Carmichael
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Canons Road	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Thomas, South Dunedin
Folio	03/1290
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1903
Officiating Minister	A. W. Chandler

3070

2 February 1903

George Phillip
Sophia Perry

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22 years
16 years

Dunedin
Green Island

15 years
16 years

In the house of Mr. John Perry, 20 York Place, Dunedin

03/1230

2 February 1903

Wm. Hewitson

No	3070
Date of Notice	2 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Phillip	Sophia Perry
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22 years	16 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Green Island
Length of Residence	15 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. John Perry, 20 York Place, Dunedin
Folio	03/1230
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1903
Officiating Minister	Wm. Hewitson

3071

3 February 1903

George James Taylor
Ethel Grace Vincent

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Machinist

27 years
30 years

Dunedin
Mornington

3 days
20 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages

03/1193

3 February 1903

H. Maxwell, R.

No	3071
Date of Notice	3 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Taylor	Ethel Grace Vincent
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Machinist
Age	27 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	03/1193
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1903
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, R.

3072

4 February 1903

Walter John Young
Emma Esther Grant

Walter John Yardley
Emma Esther Grant
💍 1903/1789

Widower
Spinster

Blacksmith

26 years
26 years

Ravensbourne
Ravensbourne

3 days
26 years

In the house of Mr. William Grant, Ravensbourne

03/1254

4 February 1903

W. H. Herbert

No	3072
Date of Notice	4 February 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Young	Emma Esther Grant
BDM Match (84%)	Walter John Yardley	Emma Esther Grant
	💍 1903/1789
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	26 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Ravensbourne	Ravensbourne
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. William Grant, Ravensbourne
Folio	03/1254
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1903
Officiating Minister	W. H. Herbert

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).