Intentions to Marry, 1902 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840422, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke and Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, October 3 and October 8, 2025.

1902 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 655

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1902 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

380

2 October 1902

John Henry McLedowney
Elizabeth Hamilton Colquhoun

John Henry McLedowney
Elizabeth Hamilton Colquhoun
💍 1902/5941

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

28 years
22 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

12 years
10 days

In St. Patrick Church

02/6005

2 October 1902

James Coffey

No	380
Date of Notice	2 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry McLedowney	Elizabeth Hamilton Colquhoun
	💍 1902/5941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	28 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 years	10 days
Marriage Place	In St. Patrick Church
Folio	02/6005
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1902
Officiating Minister	James Coffey

381

2 October 1902

William John Gibbs
Mary Shuttleworth

William John Gibbs
Mary Shuttleworth
💍 1902/5986

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

26 years
27 years

Dunedin
Roslyn

3 days
20 years

In the house of Joseph Shuttleworth

02/6050

2 October 1902

M. J. B. Bennett

No	381
Date of Notice	2 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Gibbs	Mary Shuttleworth
	💍 1902/5986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	26 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Joseph Shuttleworth
Folio	02/6050
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1902
Officiating Minister	M. J. B. Bennett

382

3 October 1902

John Henry Irvine
Adelena Victoria Dryden

John Henry Irvine
Adelena Victoria Dryden
💍 1902/281

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23 years
18 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
9 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriage, Dunedin

02/5903

William Smith Dryden, father

3 October 1902

H. Maxwell, Reg.

No	382
Date of Notice	3 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Irvine	Adelena Victoria Dryden
	💍 1902/281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	9 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriage, Dunedin
Folio	02/5903
Consent	William Smith Dryden, father
Date of Certificate	3 October 1902
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, Reg.

383

4 October 1902

Henry Marcus Lyders
Grace Campbell

Henry Marius Lyders
Grace Campbell
💍 1902/288

Bachelor
Widow

Builder
Boarding house Keeper

49 years
34 years

St. Kilda
St. Kilda

3 weeks
3 weeks

In the office of the Registrar of Marriage, Dunedin

02/5904

4 October 1902

H. Maxwell, Reg.

No	383
Date of Notice	4 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Marcus Lyders	Grace Campbell
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Marius Lyders	Grace Campbell
	💍 1902/288
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Builder	Boarding house Keeper
Age	49 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriage, Dunedin
Folio	02/5904
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1902
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, Reg.

384

6 October 1902

Frederick William Smith
Ellen Colehan

Frederick William Smith
Ellen Colehan
💍 1902/6145

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
Tailor

26 years
27 years

Dunedin
Waitati

1 week
2 years

In St. Bridget's Church, Waitati

02/5885

6 October 1902

James McGrath

No	384
Date of Notice	6 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Smith	Ellen Colehan
	💍 1902/6145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Tailor
Age	26 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Waitati
Length of Residence	1 week	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Bridget's Church, Waitati
Folio	02/5885
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1902
Officiating Minister	James McGrath

385

7 October 1902

Robert Renton Cameron
Elizabeth Mary Buchanan

Robert Renton Cameron
Elizabeth Mary Buchanan
💍 1902/5940

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter
Shop Keeper

22 years
35 years

Caversham
Caversham

7 weeks
1 month

In the house of the Rev. Jas. Coffey, South Dunedin

02/6004

7 October 1902

James Coffey

No	385
Date of Notice	7 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Renton Cameron	Elizabeth Mary Buchanan
	💍 1902/5940
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter	Shop Keeper
Age	22 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	7 weeks	1 month
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. Jas. Coffey, South Dunedin
Folio	02/6004
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1902
Officiating Minister	James Coffey

386

8 October 1902

Thomas Gallon
Margaret Hastie

Thomas Callon
Margaret Hastie
💍 1902/5945

William Brown Cameron
Margaret Hastie
💍 1904/3239

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmoulder

30 years
24 years

Ravensbourne
Roslyn

20 years
3 days

In the house of the Rev. A. Sinclair, Fern Hill Street, Dunedin

02/6009

8 October 1902

W. A. Sinclair

No	386
Date of Notice	8 October 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gallon	Margaret Hastie
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Callon	Margaret Hastie
	💍 1902/5945
BDM Match (62%)	William Brown Cameron	Margaret Hastie
	💍 1904/3239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmoulder
Age	30 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Ravensbourne	Roslyn
Length of Residence	20 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. A. Sinclair, Fern Hill Street, Dunedin
Folio	02/6009
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1902
Officiating Minister	W. A. Sinclair

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).