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 639

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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

140

2 April 1903

George Alexander Sutherland
Frederica Oaten

George Alexander Sutherland
Frederica Oaten
💍 1903/3712

Bachelor
Spinster

Trimmer

26 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

26 years
25 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

03/2963

2 April 1903

H. Maxwell

No	140
Date of Notice	2 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alexander Sutherland	Frederica Oaten
	💍 1903/3712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trimmer
Age	26 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	25 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	03/2963
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1903
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

141

2 April 1903

George Keys
Annie Goodsir

George Keys
Annie Goodsir
💍 1903/3283

Widower
Widow

Army Pensioner

78 years
50 years

North East Valley
Caversham

2 years
18 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

03/2960

2 April 1903

H. Maxwell

No	141
Date of Notice	2 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Keys	Annie Goodsir
	💍 1903/3283
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Army Pensioner
Age	78 years	50 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	Caversham
Length of Residence	2 years	18 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	03/2960
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1903
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

142

2 April 1903

John William Scurr Flett
Jessie Grinton Flett

John William Scurr
Jessie Grinton Flett
💍 1903/3745

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

29 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 months
7 months

In All Saints Church, Dunedin

03/2990

2 April 1903

A. R. Fitchett

No	142
Date of Notice	2 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Scurr Flett	Jessie Grinton Flett
BDM Match (88%)	John William Scurr	Jessie Grinton Flett
	💍 1903/3745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	29 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 months	7 months
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church, Dunedin
Folio	03/2990
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1903
Officiating Minister	A. R. Fitchett

143

3 April 1903

Alfred Alexander Roberts Lawry
Alice Bartlett Sutton

Alfred Alexander Roberts Lawry
Alice Bartlett Sutton
💍 1903/3336

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Tailoress

29 years
30 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
20 years

In Trinity Wesleyan Church, Stuart Street, Dunedin

03/3077

3 April 1903

P. W. Fairclough

No	143
Date of Notice	3 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Alexander Roberts Lawry	Alice Bartlett Sutton
	💍 1903/3336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Tailoress
Age	29 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In Trinity Wesleyan Church, Stuart Street, Dunedin
Folio	03/3077
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1903
Officiating Minister	P. W. Fairclough

144

3 April 1903

Edmund Montgomery
Elizabeth Hargood

Edmund Montgomery
Harriet Elizabeth Hargood
💍 1903/3701

Widower
Spinster

Vocalist
Vocalist

36 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
4 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

03/2962

3 April 1903

H. Maxwell

No	144
Date of Notice	3 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Montgomery	Elizabeth Hargood
BDM Match (84%)	Edmund Montgomery	Harriet Elizabeth Hargood
	💍 1903/3701
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Vocalist	Vocalist
Age	36 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	03/2962
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1903
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

145

3 April 1903

Charlie Butter
Ethel May Lee

Charlie Butler
Ethel May Lee
💍 1903/3284

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

25 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 days
7 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

03/2961

3 April 1903

H. Maxwell

No	145
Date of Notice	3 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charlie Butter	Ethel May Lee
BDM Match (96%)	Charlie Butler	Ethel May Lee
	💍 1903/3284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 days	7 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	03/2961
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1903
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

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).