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 420

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

113

20 March 1905

John Mitchell Davidson
Edith Annie Ryall Gibson

John Mitchell Davidson
Edith Annie Ryall Gibson
💍 1905/2503

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25 years
20 years

Maori Hill
Maori Hill

5 years
12 years

In Holy Innocents Church, Woodhaugh

05/4888

Thomas Gibson, father

20 March 1905

S. T. Nevill

No	113
Date of Notice	20 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mitchell Davidson	Edith Annie Ryall Gibson
	💍 1905/2503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Maori Hill	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In Holy Innocents Church, Woodhaugh
Folio	05/4888
Consent	Thomas Gibson, father
Date of Certificate	20 March 1905
Officiating Minister	S. T. Nevill

114

20 March 1905

Edwin Gordon Bell
Florence Victoria Keen

Edwin Gordon Bell
Florence Victoria Keen
💍 1905/6361

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

24 years
23 years

Dunedin
Caversham

3 years
5 months

In the Methodist Church, Cargill Road, South Dunedin

05/1396

20 March 1905

Josiah Ward

No	114
Date of Notice	20 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Gordon Bell	Florence Victoria Keen
	💍 1905/6361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	24 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 years	5 months
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church, Cargill Road, South Dunedin
Folio	05/1396
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1905
Officiating Minister	Josiah Ward

115

21 March 1905

James Gourdie
Margaret Gemmell

James Gourdie
Margaret Gemmell
💍 1905/6329

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

27 years
25 years

Roslyn
Roslyn

3 days
25 years

In the Methodist Church, Roslyn

05/1388

21 March 1905

A. N. Scotter

No	115
Date of Notice	21 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gourdie	Margaret Gemmell
	💍 1905/6329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	27 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church, Roslyn
Folio	05/1388
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1905
Officiating Minister	A. N. Scotter

116

21 March 1905

John Pinkerton Bald
Elizabeth Ann O'Flaherty

John Pinkerton Bald
Elizabeth Ann O'Flaherty
💍 1905/6325

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

39 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 days
14 days

In St. Joseph's Cathedral Vestry, Dunedin

05/1380

21 March 1905

P. Murphy

No	116
Date of Notice	21 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pinkerton Bald	Elizabeth Ann O'Flaherty
	💍 1905/6325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	39 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	05/1380
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1905
Officiating Minister	P. Murphy

117

21 March 1905

David John Bews
Florence Mary Louisa Irwin

David John Bews
Florence Mary Louisa Irwin
💍 1905/900

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Manager

41 years
34 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 years
4 years

In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

05/3234

21 March 1905

C. G. Robinson

No	117
Date of Notice	21 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David John Bews	Florence Mary Louisa Irwin
	💍 1905/900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Manager
Age	41 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	05/3234
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1905
Officiating Minister	C. G. Robinson

118

21 March 1905

Sidney Maxwell
Ellen Lumb

Sidney Maxwell
Ellen Lumb
💍 1905/6334

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

42 years
35 years

Leith Valley
Mornington

14 years
4 months

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

05/1392

21 March 1905

W. A. Sinclair

No	118
Date of Notice	21 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Maxwell	Ellen Lumb
	💍 1905/6334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	42 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Leith Valley	Mornington
Length of Residence	14 years	4 months
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. W. A. Sinclair, Fern Hill Street, Dunedin
Folio	05/1392
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1905
Officiating Minister	W. A. Sinclair

119

22 March 1905

Henry George Horne
Margaret Heath

Henry George Horne
Margaret Heath
💍 1905/6282

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In Knox Church, Dunedin

05/1335

William Heath, father

22 March 1905

John Dunlop

No	119
Date of Notice	22 March 1905
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Horne	Margaret Heath
	💍 1905/6282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	05/1335
Consent	William Heath, father
Date of Certificate	22 March 1905
Officiating Minister	John Dunlop

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).