Intentions to Marry, 1905 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840429, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1905 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1905a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1905b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1905c).

Page 410

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1905 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

3 February 1905

Percival Sylvester Knipe
Annie Taylor

Percival Sylvester Knipe
Annie Taylor
💍 1905/5045

Bachelor
Widow

Flaxmiller

22 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 years
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

05/1301

3 February 1905

H. Maxwell

No	43
Date of Notice	3 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Sylvester Knipe	Annie Taylor
	💍 1905/5045
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Flaxmiller
Age	22 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	05/1301
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1905
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

3 February 1905

Robert Wellesley
Margaret Rubina Connell

Robert Wellesley
Margaret Rubina Connell
💍 1905/5022

Widower
Spinster

Engine driver

48 years
36 years

Roslyn
Dunedin

2 years
10 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

05/1302

3 February 1905

H. Maxwell

No	44
Date of Notice	3 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Wellesley	Margaret Rubina Connell
	💍 1905/5022
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver
Age	48 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	05/1302
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1905
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

4 February 1905

Robert Lawrie Baldow
Jane Turner Garside

Robert Laurie Caldon
Jane Turner Garside
💍 1905/6410

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker

27 years
26 years

Mornington
Mornington

2 years
26 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Mornington

05/1605

4 February 1905

Wm. George

No	45
Date of Notice	4 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Lawrie Baldow	Jane Turner Garside
BDM Match (93%)	Robert Laurie Caldon	Jane Turner Garside
	💍 1905/6410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	27 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Mornington
Folio	05/1605
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1905
Officiating Minister	Wm. George

4 February 1905

John Whipp
Annie Evans

John Whipp
Annie Evans
💍 1905/6287

Bachelor
Spinster

Hatter
Cook

24 years
24 years

North East Valley
North East Valley

4 months
2 years

In the house of Mr. John Whipp, Leith Walk, North East Valley

05/1339

4 February 1905

D. Borrie

No	46
Date of Notice	4 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Whipp	Annie Evans
	💍 1905/6287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hatter	Cook
Age	24 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	North East Valley
Length of Residence	4 months	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. John Whipp, Leith Walk, North East Valley
Folio	05/1339
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1905
Officiating Minister	D. Borrie

6 February 1905

Edward Peter Bocking Moore
Margaret Douglas Fletcher

Edward Peter Hocking Moore
Margaret Douglas Fletcher
💍 1905/6332

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Machinist

27 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
21 years

In the Trinity Methodist Church, Dunedin

05/1391

6 February 1905

W. A. Sinclair

No	47
Date of Notice	6 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Peter Bocking Moore	Margaret Douglas Fletcher
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Peter Hocking Moore	Margaret Douglas Fletcher
	💍 1905/6332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Machinist
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the Trinity Methodist Church, Dunedin
Folio	05/1391
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1905
Officiating Minister	W. A. Sinclair

6 February 1905

Robert Craig Reid
Florence Mary Marks

Robert Craig Reid
Florence Mary Marks
💍 1905/6275

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

24 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
26 years

In All Saints Church, Dunedin

05/1327

6 February 1905

J. R. Fitchett

No	48
Date of Notice	6 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Craig Reid	Florence Mary Marks
	💍 1905/6275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	24 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church, Dunedin
Folio	05/1327
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1905
Officiating Minister	J. R. Fitchett

7 February 1905

Robert Bert Annis
Annie Kenny

Robert Bert Annis
Annie Kenny
💍 1905/6337

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 weeks

In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

05/1372

7 February 1905

P. Murphy

No	49
Date of Notice	7 February 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Bert Annis	Annie Kenny
	💍 1905/6337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	05/1372
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1905
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).