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 443

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1908

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

386

25 July 1908

Sydney Kenny
Ida Russell

Sydney Kenny
Ida Russell
💍 1908/7316

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

19 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

19 years
5 years

In the house of Mr Arthur Moore, 58 Brunswick Street, South Dunedin

08/5926

Robert Douglas Kenny and David Russell, mother of bride

25 July 1908

Wm. Grigg

No	386
Date of Notice	25 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Kenny	Ida Russell
	💍 1908/7316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	19 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	19 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Arthur Moore, 58 Brunswick Street, South Dunedin
Folio	08/5926
Consent	Robert Douglas Kenny and David Russell, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	25 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Wm. Grigg

387

30 July 1908

Robert Jenkins Blydesdale
Rubina Marion

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26 years
24 years

Dunedin
Roslyn

10 years
5 years

In the house of Mr Alexander Blydesdale, 3 James Street, Roslyn

08/5927

30 July 1908

Wm. Grigg

No	387
Date of Notice	30 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Jenkins Blydesdale	Rubina Marion
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Alexander Blydesdale, 3 James Street, Roslyn
Folio	08/5927
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Wm. Grigg

388

30 July 1908

Herbert Arthur Patrick Ryan
Ethel Mary Edwards

Herbert Arthur Patrick Ryan
Ethel Mary Edwards
💍 1908/7330

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

23 years
21 years

Dunedin
Roslyn

23 years
21 years

In the Methodist Church

08/5941

30 July 1908

T. G. Wallis

No	388
Date of Notice	30 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Arthur Patrick Ryan	Ethel Mary Edwards
	💍 1908/7330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church
Folio	08/5941
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1908
Officiating Minister	T. G. Wallis

389

31 July 1908

James Morrison Hastie
Hilda Harriet Snell

James Morrison Hastie
Hilda Harriet Swell
💍 1908/7278

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

32 years
22 years

Dunedin
South Dunedin

32 years
5 years

In Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin

08/5876

31 July 1908

Wm. Hewitson

No	389
Date of Notice	31 July 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Morrison Hastie	Hilda Harriet Snell
BDM Match (97%)	James Morrison Hastie	Hilda Harriet Swell
	💍 1908/7278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	32 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	32 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	08/5876
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1908
Officiating Minister	Wm. Hewitson

390

1 August 1908

Andrew Bain Stewart
Jeanie Dickie

Andrew Bain Stewart
Jeanie Dickie
💍 1908/7615

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

26 years
21 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

4 years
15 years

In the Presbyterian Church

08/6210

1 August 1908

D. Dutton

No	390
Date of Notice	1 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Bain Stewart	Jeanie Dickie
	💍 1908/7615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church
Folio	08/6210
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1908
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

391

1 August 1908

James Mudie Meikle
Helen Beattie

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

32 years
32 years

Dunedin
Roslyn

3 days
3 days

In the house of Mr Arthur Murray, 32 Broughton Street, Roslyn

08/6211

1 August 1908

R. R. Sutherland

No	391
Date of Notice	1 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mudie Meikle	Helen Beattie
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	32 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Arthur Murray, 32 Broughton Street, Roslyn
Folio	08/6211
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1908
Officiating Minister	R. R. Sutherland

392

3 August 1908

William James Porter
Florence Isabella Calverley

William James Porter
Florence Arabella Calverley
💍 1908/7318

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

26 years
21 years

Roslyn
Roslyn

3 days
20 years

In Trinity Methodist Church, Dunedin

08/5928

3 August 1908

E. O. Blamires

No	392
Date of Notice	3 August 1908
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Porter	Florence Isabella Calverley
BDM Match (96%)	William James Porter	Florence Arabella Calverley
	💍 1908/7318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	In Trinity Methodist Church, Dunedin
Folio	08/5928
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1908
Officiating Minister	E. O. Blamires

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).