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 625

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

2 March 1903

Thomas Wood
Emily Cox

Thomas Wood
Emily Cox
💍 1903/2006

Widower
Widow

Boot Manufacturer

86 years
42 years

Dunedin
Caversham

30 years
12 years

In the house of Mr. Emily Cox, Grosvenor Street, Caversham

03/1281

2 March 1903

W. A. Sinclair

No	69
Date of Notice	2 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wood	Emily Cox
	💍 1903/2006
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Boot Manufacturer
Age	86 years	42 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	30 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Emily Cox, Grosvenor Street, Caversham
Folio	03/1281
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1903
Officiating Minister	W. A. Sinclair

2 March 1903

Robert William Wilson
Frances Daisy Moore

Robert William Wilson
Frances Daisy Moore
💍 1903/1105

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Music Teacher

25 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 years
9 years

In All Saints Church, Dunedin

03/1220

2 March 1903

A. R. Fitchett

No	70
Date of Notice	2 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Wilson	Frances Daisy Moore
	💍 1903/1105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Music Teacher
Age	25 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 years	9 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church, Dunedin
Folio	03/1220
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1903
Officiating Minister	A. R. Fitchett

3 March 1903

Alexander Craig Melsuffie
Agnes Ann Melsuffie

Alexander Craig
Agnes Ann McGuffie
💍 1903/1042

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

44 years
42 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
37 years

In the Congregational Church, Moray Place, Dunedin

03/1894

3 March 1903

Wm. Saunders

No	71
Date of Notice	3 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Craig Melsuffie	Agnes Ann Melsuffie
BDM Match (72%)	Alexander Craig	Agnes Ann McGuffie
	💍 1903/1042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	44 years	42 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	37 years
Marriage Place	In the Congregational Church, Moray Place, Dunedin
Folio	03/1894
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1903
Officiating Minister	Wm. Saunders

4 March 1903

Charles Perry McKegg
Mary Clayton McKegg

Charles Perry
Mary Clayton McKegg
💍 1903/1043

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25 years
21 years

Caversham
Henley

3 years
21 years

In the house of East Taieri, Mr. Amos McKegg, Henley

03/1305

4 March 1903

H. X. Howes

No	72
Date of Notice	4 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Perry McKegg	Mary Clayton McKegg
BDM Match (83%)	Charles Perry	Mary Clayton McKegg
	💍 1903/1043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Henley
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the house of East Taieri, Mr. Amos McKegg, Henley
Folio	03/1305
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1903
Officiating Minister	H. X. Howes

4 March 1903

Thomas Herbert Fawcett
Amelia McLean

Thomas Herbert Fawcett
Amelia McLean
💍 1903/1774

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastry Cook

25 years
31 years

Roslyn
Roslyn

4 years
3 years

In the Presbyterian Church, City Road, Roslyn

03/1258

4 March 1903

R. R. M. Sutherland

No	73
Date of Notice	4 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Herbert Fawcett	Amelia McLean
	💍 1903/1774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastry Cook
Age	25 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, City Road, Roslyn
Folio	03/1258
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1903
Officiating Minister	R. R. M. Sutherland

5 March 1903

Samuel Cooper Cope
Irene Angell

Samuel Cooper Cope
Irene Angell
💍 1903/1095

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

35 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

15 years
20 years

In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

03/1211

William Angell, Father

5 March 1903

H. Jones

No	74
Date of Notice	5 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Cooper Cope	Irene Angell
	💍 1903/1095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	35 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	03/1211
Consent	William Angell, Father
Date of Certificate	5 March 1903
Officiating Minister	H. Jones

5 March 1903

Percy James Blackman
Mary Seward Coombs

Percy James Blackman
Mary Seward Coombs
💍 1903/2017

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

25 years
26 years

Dunedin
North East Valley

6 months
26 years

In the house of Mr. John Coombs, North East Valley

03/1293

5 March 1903

F. Shiner

No	75
Date of Notice	5 March 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy James Blackman	Mary Seward Coombs
	💍 1903/2017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	25 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	North East Valley
Length of Residence	6 months	26 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. John Coombs, North East Valley
Folio	03/1293
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1903
Officiating Minister	F. Shiner

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).