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 666

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

310

29 July 1903

Thomas Dickson
Hellen Gordon

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

33
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the Knox Church Vestry Dunedin

03/4554

29 July 1903

Wm Hewitson

No	310
Date of Notice	29 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Dickson	Hellen Gordon
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Knox Church Vestry Dunedin
Folio	03/4554
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Wm Hewitson

311

29 July 1903

Matthew Irvine
Rose Blaney

Matthew Irvine
Rose Blaney
💍 1903/4837

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

38
31

Dunedin
Caversham

2 months
20 years

In St Joseph's Cathedral Vestry Dunedin

03/4573

29 July 1903

P. Murphy

No	311
Date of Notice	29 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Irvine	Rose Blaney
	💍 1903/4837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	38	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	2 months	20 years
Marriage Place	In St Joseph's Cathedral Vestry Dunedin
Folio	03/4573
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1903
Officiating Minister	P. Murphy

312

29 July 1903

William Stuart Blyth
Minnie Alice Low

William Stuart Blyth
Minnie Alice Low
💍 1903/4856

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

24
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
21 years

In the house of Mr James C Low, Town Hall, Dunedin

03/4593

29 July 1903

W. A. Sinclair

No	312
Date of Notice	29 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stuart Blyth	Minnie Alice Low
	💍 1903/4856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr James C Low, Town Hall, Dunedin
Folio	03/4593
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1903
Officiating Minister	W. A. Sinclair

313

29 July 1903

Francis Alexander Moulin
Nellie Stepten

Francis Alexander Moulin
Nellie Stephen
💍 1903/4842

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker

21
20

Ravensbourne
Dunedin

21 years
5 years

In the house of Mr Thomas Hybridge, 3 Hyde Street, Dunedin

03/4555

Thomas Hy Erridge, Guardian

29 July 1903

Wm Hewitson

No	313
Date of Notice	29 July 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Alexander Moulin	Nellie Stepten
BDM Match (96%)	Francis Alexander Moulin	Nellie Stephen
	💍 1903/4842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Ravensbourne	Dunedin
Length of Residence	21 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Thomas Hybridge, 3 Hyde Street, Dunedin
Folio	03/4555
Consent	Thomas Hy Erridge, Guardian
Date of Certificate	29 July 1903
Officiating Minister	Wm Hewitson

314

1 August 1903

Philip John Ness
Ethel Morris

Philip John Ness
Ethel Morris
💍 1903/3232

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

37
42

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
30 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

03/4501

1 August 1903

H Maxwell, Registrar

No	314
Date of Notice	1 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip John Ness	Ethel Morris
	💍 1903/3232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	37	42
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	30 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	03/4501
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1903
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell, Registrar

315

1 August 1903

John Charles Smith
Catherine Carter

John Charles Smith
Catherine Carter
💍 1903/4829

Bachelor
Spinster

Iron turner
Confectioner

23
23

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

19 years
2 years

In the house of Mr George Carter, Fox Street, South Dunedin

03/4566

1 August 1903

R Mackie

No	315
Date of Notice	1 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Smith	Catherine Carter
	💍 1903/4829
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Iron turner	Confectioner
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	19 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr George Carter, Fox Street, South Dunedin
Folio	03/4566
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1903
Officiating Minister	R Mackie

316

3 August 1903

James Richard De Clifford
Ada Martha Caygill

James Richard de Clifford
Ada Martha Caygill
💍 1903/4876

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
24

Dunedin
Mornington

10 years
3 years

In St Mary's Church, Mornington

03/4536

3 August 1903

C. S. Bowden

No	316
Date of Notice	3 August 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Richard De Clifford	Ada Martha Caygill
BDM Match (98%)	James Richard de Clifford	Ada Martha Caygill
	💍 1903/4876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In St Mary's Church, Mornington
Folio	03/4536
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1903
Officiating Minister	C. S. Bowden

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).