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 661

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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

282

1 July 1903

Archebald Arthur Thompson
Olivia Barclay

Archibald Arthur Thompson
Olivia Barclay
💍 1903/4894

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

28 years
25 years

Dunedin
North East Valley

27 years
3 years

In St Matthew's Church, Stafford Street, Dunedin

03/4530

1 July 1903

W Curzon-Siggers

No	282
Date of Notice	1 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archebald Arthur Thompson	Olivia Barclay
BDM Match (98%)	Archibald Arthur Thompson	Olivia Barclay
	💍 1903/4894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	28 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	North East Valley
Length of Residence	27 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In St Matthew's Church, Stafford Street, Dunedin
Folio	03/4530
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1903
Officiating Minister	W Curzon-Siggers

283

1 July 1903

Albert Edward Geddes
Hester Harriett Critchley

Albert Edward Geddes
Hester Harriet Critchley
💍 1903/4854

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker

30 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
8 years

In the house of Mrs Rosa H Critchley, 72 Dowling Street, Dunedin

03/4591

Rosa Harriett Critchley, Mother

1 July 1903

W. A. Sinclair

No	283
Date of Notice	1 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Geddes	Hester Harriett Critchley
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Edward Geddes	Hester Harriet Critchley
	💍 1903/4854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	30 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Rosa H Critchley, 72 Dowling Street, Dunedin
Folio	03/4591
Consent	Rosa Harriett Critchley, Mother
Date of Certificate	1 July 1903
Officiating Minister	W. A. Sinclair

284

1 July 1903

John Anglesey Williams
Amelia Tui Stephenson

John Anglesey Williams
Amelia Tui Stephenson
💍 1903/4895

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

38 years
33 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 days
33 years

In St Matthew's Church, Stafford Street, Dunedin

03/4531

1 July 1903

Wm Curzon-Siggers

No	284
Date of Notice	1 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Anglesey Williams	Amelia Tui Stephenson
	💍 1903/4895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	38 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 days	33 years
Marriage Place	In St Matthew's Church, Stafford Street, Dunedin
Folio	03/4531
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Wm Curzon-Siggers

285

2 July 1903

Louis Mussen
Dorothea Forsyth

Louis Mussen
Dorothea Forsyth
💍 1903/4668

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Cleaner

19 years
22 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

11 years
3 1/2 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriage, Dunedin

03/4493

Charles Mussen, Father

2 July 1903

H Maxwell Reg.

No	285
Date of Notice	2 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Mussen	Dorothea Forsyth
	💍 1903/4668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Cleaner
Age	19 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriage, Dunedin
Folio	03/4493
Consent	Charles Mussen, Father
Date of Certificate	2 July 1903
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell Reg.

286

4 July 1903

Alexander Boatwood
Mary Rees

Alexander Boatwood
Mary Lees
💍 1903/4872

Bachelor
Spinster

Cutter
Tailoress

26 years
23 years

Mornington
South Dunedin

10 years
8 years

In the house of Mr Morgan Rees, Bathgate Street, South Dunedin

03/4585

4 July 1903

J. Ward

No	286
Date of Notice	4 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Boatwood	Mary Rees
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Boatwood	Mary Lees
	💍 1903/4872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cutter	Tailoress
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Morgan Rees, Bathgate Street, South Dunedin
Folio	03/4585
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1903
Officiating Minister	J. Ward

287

6 July 1903

Hugh Hagan
Margaret Ann McNaughton

Hugh Hagan
Margaret Ann McNaughton
💍 1903/5020

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

39 years
33 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
8 months

In St Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin

03/4864

6 July 1903

Jas. Coffey

No	287
Date of Notice	6 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Hagan	Margaret Ann McNaughton
	💍 1903/5020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	39 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	8 months
Marriage Place	In St Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	03/4864
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Jas. Coffey

288

7 July 1903

William Henry Robin
Ellen Collins

William Henry Robins
Ellen Collins
💍 1903/4832

William Derham
Kathleen Collins
💍 1903/5236

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredgemaster

35 years
34 years

Dunedin
North East Valley

3 days
20 years

In St Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

03/4569

7 July 1903

P. Murphy

No	288
Date of Notice	7 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Robin	Ellen Collins
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Robins	Ellen Collins
	💍 1903/4832
BDM Match (61%)	William Derham	Kathleen Collins
	💍 1903/5236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredgemaster
Age	35 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	North East Valley
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	In St Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	03/4569
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1903
Officiating Minister	P. Murphy

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).