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 805

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1903 Registrar J. E. Petrie

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

9 April 1903

James Boon
Catherine Hastings

James Sloan Fraser
Catherine Hastings
💍 1903/4717

James Amos
Margaret Hastings
💍 1903/3789

Widower
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

28
28

Maikiur, Invercargill
Yarrow Street, Invercargill

28 years
28 years

Residence of Rev. H. Burke, Eye Street, Invercargill

03/4670

9 April 1903

Rev. H. Burke

No	59
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Boon	Catherine Hastings
BDM Match (72%)	James Sloan Fraser	Catherine Hastings
	💍 1903/4717
BDM Match (66%)	James Amos	Margaret Hastings
	💍 1903/3789
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Maikiur, Invercargill	Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. H. Burke, Eye Street, Invercargill
Folio	03/4670
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Burke

9 April 1903

John Murray
Jessie Alice Brown

John Murray
Jessie Alice Brown
💍 1903/3360

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Merchant
Domestic

34
25

Eye Street, Invercargill
Thornbury, Wallace

30 years
25 years

Residence of Rev. H. Brown, Thornbury, Wallace

03/3226

9 April 1903

Rev. H. Davidson

No	60
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Murray	Jessie Alice Brown
	💍 1903/3360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant	Domestic
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Eye Street, Invercargill	Thornbury, Wallace
Length of Residence	30 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. H. Brown, Thornbury, Wallace
Folio	03/3226
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Davidson

9 April 1903

Malcolm McInnes
Sarah McLeod

Malcolm McIntyre
Sarah McLeod
💍 1903/3809

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

20
20

Isabel Street, Invercargill
Isabel Street, Invercargill

20 years
20 years

Residence of James Baird, Spey Street, Invercargill

03/3149

9 April 1903

Rev. James Baird

No	61
Date of Notice	9 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm McInnes	Sarah McLeod
BDM Match (88%)	Malcolm McIntyre	Sarah McLeod
	💍 1903/3809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Isabel Street, Invercargill	Isabel Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Baird, Spey Street, Invercargill
Folio	03/3149
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird

14 April 1903

William McRoberts
Mary Beatrice Squires Groffett

Bachelor
Spinster

Dental Surgeon

30
29

Dee Street, Invercargill
Esk Street, Invercargill

4 days
29 years

English Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

03/3147

14 April 1903

Rev. Archdeacon Stocker

No	62
Date of Notice	14 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McRoberts	Mary Beatrice Squires Groffett
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dental Surgeon
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Esk Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	29 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	03/3147
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Stocker

14 April 1903

Robert Mills
Elizabeth Goldsmith

Robert Hall
Elizabeth Hall
💍 1903/3894

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
26

Earn Street, Invercargill
Earn Street, Invercargill

5 days
5 days

Residence of James Baird, Spey Street, Invercargill

03/3150

14 April 1903

Rev. James Baird

No	63
Date of Notice	14 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Mills	Elizabeth Goldsmith
BDM Match (66%)	Robert Hall	Elizabeth Hall
	💍 1903/3894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Earn Street, Invercargill	Earn Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Residence of James Baird, Spey Street, Invercargill
Folio	03/3150
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird

14 April 1903

Arthur Rothwell
Agnes Williamson

Arthur Northcoat
Agnes Williamson
💍 1903/4713

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

32
26

Clifton, Invercargill
Clifton, Invercargill

4 days
6 years

Residence of Thomas Pollock, Grace Street, South Invercargill

03/4666

14 April 1903

Rev. T. H. Popham

No	64
Date of Notice	14 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Rothwell	Agnes Williamson
BDM Match (81%)	Arthur Northcoat	Agnes Williamson
	💍 1903/4713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Clifton, Invercargill	Clifton, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Pollock, Grace Street, South Invercargill
Folio	03/4666
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Popham

14 April 1903

James Anderson
Elizabeth Murchie

John Anderson
Elizabeth Jane Mathews
💍 1903/2045

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic

31
28

Avenal, Invercargill
Avenal, Invercargill

20 years
28 years

Residence of William Gray, Elle Road, South Invercargill

03/3151

14 April 1903

Rev. James Baird

No	65
Date of Notice	14 April 1903
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Anderson	Elizabeth Murchie
BDM Match (61%)	John Anderson	Elizabeth Jane Mathews
	💍 1903/2045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Avenal, Invercargill	Avenal, Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Gray, Elle Road, South Invercargill
Folio	03/3151
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1903
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird

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).