Intentions to Marry, 1908 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840438, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1908 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1908a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1908b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1908c).

Page 390

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1908 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

29 January 1908

Andrew Anderson
Annie Louisa Shallcross

Andrew Anderson
Annie Louisa Shallcross
💍 1908/1553

Bachelor
Spinster

Colporteur
Colporteur

44
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 weeks
6 weeks

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

08/1584

29 January 1908

H. Maxwell

No	43
Date of Notice	29 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Anderson	Annie Louisa Shallcross
	💍 1908/1553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Colporteur	Colporteur
Age	44	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	08/1584
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1908
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

30 January 1908

Peter Garden
Gertrude Fish

Peter Garden
Gertrude Fish
💍 1908/1597

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Milliner

34
37

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 years

In the house of the Rev. R. Waddell, High Street, Dunedin

08/1654

30 January 1908

R. Waddell

No	44
Date of Notice	30 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Garden	Gertrude Fish
	💍 1908/1597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Milliner
Age	34	37
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. R. Waddell, High Street, Dunedin
Folio	08/1654
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1908
Officiating Minister	R. Waddell

30 January 1908

Andrew Bone
Lilian Beatrice Carr

Andrew Bone
Lilian Beatrice Carr
💍 1908/1591

Bachelor
Spinster

News Agent

28
32

Anderson's Bay
Anderson's Bay

28 years
4 years

In the house of William Nicholas, Anderson's Bay

08/1649

30 January 1908

D. Dutton

No	45
Date of Notice	30 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Bone	Lilian Beatrice Carr
	💍 1908/1591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	News Agent
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Anderson's Bay	Anderson's Bay
Length of Residence	28 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of William Nicholas, Anderson's Bay
Folio	08/1649
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1908
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

30 January 1908

Henry Charles Playter
Agnes Marshall Ramage

Henry Charles Playter
Agnes Marshall Ramage
💍 1908/1554

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

25
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

11 years
7 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

08/1585

30 January 1908

H. Maxwell

No	46
Date of Notice	30 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Playter	Agnes Marshall Ramage
	💍 1908/1554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	08/1585
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1908
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

31 January 1908

William George Thompson
Charlotte Dawson

William George Thompson
Charlotte Dawson
💍 1908/1602

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 weeks

In the house of H. Galland, 78 Dundas Street, Dunedin

08/1636

31 January 1908

Wm. Hewitson

No	47
Date of Notice	31 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Thompson	Charlotte Dawson
	💍 1908/1602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of H. Galland, 78 Dundas Street, Dunedin
Folio	08/1636
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Wm. Hewitson

31 January 1908

David Aquilla Benfell
Annie Hughes

David Aquilla Benfell
Annie Hughes
💍 1908/1655

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

21
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

21 years
3 years

In the house of the Rev. Mr. Slade, Fernhill Street, Dunedin

08/1689

31 January 1908

Wm. Slade

No	48
Date of Notice	31 January 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Aquilla Benfell	Annie Hughes
	💍 1908/1655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	21 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. Mr. Slade, Fernhill Street, Dunedin
Folio	08/1689
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1908
Officiating Minister	Wm. Slade

1 February 1908

William Smith
Jessie Duncan

William Smith
Jessie Duncan
💍 1908/1601

Widower
Widow

Bootmaker

57
54

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin

08/1635

1 February 1908

Wm. Hewitson

No	49
Date of Notice	1 February 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Smith	Jessie Duncan
	💍 1908/1601
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	57	54
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	08/1635
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1908
Officiating Minister	Wm. Hewitson

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).