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 953

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 30 June 1903 Registrar Thomas Hinchliff

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

6 April 1903

Joseph Alfred Wallis
Grace Adelaide Lean

Joseph Alfred Wallis
Grace Adelaide Lean
💍 1903/3375

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
21

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

8 days
7 days

Registrars Office, Port Chalmers

03/3216

6 April 1903

Mr. Hinchliff, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	6 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Alfred Wallis	Grace Adelaide Lean
	💍 1903/3375
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	8 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Port Chalmers
Folio	03/3216
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Mr. Hinchliff, Registrar

9 April 1903

William Forgie
Jane Ann Rutherford

William Forgie
Jane Ann Rutherford
💍 1903/3376

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
26

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 days
7 days

House of G. Rutherford, Port Chalmers

03/3217

9 April 1903

Rev. G. Taylor, Congregational Minister

No	8
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Forgie	Jane Ann Rutherford
	💍 1903/3376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	House of G. Rutherford, Port Chalmers
Folio	03/3217
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Taylor, Congregational Minister

21 April 1903

David Maud
Agnes Horn

David Baird
Agnes Horn
💍 1903/3377

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
28

Lumsden
Lumsden

30 years
28 years

Presbyterian Church, Lumsden

03/3218

21 April 1903

Rev. G. C. Clement, Presbyterian Minister

No	9
Date of Notice	21 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Maud	Agnes Horn
BDM Match (86%)	David Baird	Agnes Horn
	💍 1903/3377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Lumsden	Lumsden
Length of Residence	30 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lumsden
Folio	03/3218
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Clement, Presbyterian Minister

12 May 1903

Paul Davies
Minnie Selina Maud Honeybone

Paul Davies
Minnie Selina Maude Honeybone
💍 1903/3355

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

27
20

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

1 month
20 years

House of J. Honeybone, Port Chalmers

03/3220

J. Honeybone, father of bride

12 May 1903

Rev. J. E. Thomas, Wesleyan Minister

No	10
Date of Notice	12 May 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Paul Davies	Minnie Selina Maud Honeybone
BDM Match (98%)	Paul Davies	Minnie Selina Maude Honeybone
	💍 1903/3355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	1 month	20 years
Marriage Place	House of J. Honeybone, Port Chalmers
Folio	03/3220
Consent	J. Honeybone, father of bride
Date of Certificate	12 May 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Thomas, Wesleyan Minister

12 June 1903

Walter Meale
Florence Edith Madigan

Walter Hall
Florence Edith Madigan
💍 1903/3354

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

20
19

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 days
19 years

House of E. Madigan, Port Chalmers

03/3219

Richard Meale, father of groom; E. Madigan, father of bride

12 June 1903

Rev. G. C. Clement, Presbyterian Minister

No	11
Date of Notice	12 June 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Meale	Florence Edith Madigan
BDM Match (88%)	Walter Hall	Florence Edith Madigan
	💍 1903/3354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	House of E. Madigan, Port Chalmers
Folio	03/3219
Consent	Richard Meale, father of groom; E. Madigan, father of bride
Date of Certificate	12 June 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Clement, Presbyterian Minister

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 1908. 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).