Intentions to Marry, 1910 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840444, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1910 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1910a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1910b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1910c).

Page 460

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1910 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

502

14 October 1910

James Williamson Dodds
Ethel May Thompson

James Williamson Dodds
Ethel May Thompson
💍 1910/7305

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

21
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 years
5 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

10/4681

Thomas Thompson, Father

14 October 1910

H. Maxwell

No	502
Date of Notice	14 October 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Williamson Dodds	Ethel May Thompson
	💍 1910/7305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	10/4681
Consent	Thomas Thompson, Father
Date of Certificate	14 October 1910
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

503

14 October 1910

Charles Randle Smith
Helen Smith

Charles Randle
Helen Smith
💍 1910/7536

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

24
22

Roslyn
Mornington

24 years
22 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Mornington

10/7907

14 October 1910

Wm Scorgie

No	503
Date of Notice	14 October 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Randle Smith	Helen Smith
BDM Match (85%)	Charles Randle	Helen Smith
	💍 1910/7536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Mornington
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Mornington
Folio	10/7907
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1910
Officiating Minister	Wm Scorgie

504

15 October 1910

Richard William Rusbudge
Annie Bacon Wright

Richard William Rusbridge
Annie Bacon Wright
💍 1910/7505

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
24

Dunedin
16 Clyde Street, Roslyn

5 years
24 years

In the house of W. T. Wright

10/7809

15 October 1910

Wm Hay

No	504
Date of Notice	15 October 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard William Rusbudge	Annie Bacon Wright
BDM Match (96%)	Richard William Rusbridge	Annie Bacon Wright
	💍 1910/7505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	16 Clyde Street, Roslyn
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W. T. Wright
Folio	10/7809
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1910
Officiating Minister	Wm Hay

505

17 October 1910

John Edwin Coventry
Susannah Agnes Rubina Clarkson

John Edwin Coventry
Susannah Agnes Rubina Clarkson
💍 1910/7475

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

28
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

28 years
12 years

In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

10/7877

17 October 1910

H. G. Gould

No	505
Date of Notice	17 October 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edwin Coventry	Susannah Agnes Rubina Clarkson
	💍 1910/7475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	10/7877
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1910
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

506

17 October 1910

Ernest George Clayton
Christina Elizabeth Malcolm Lean

Ernest George Clayton
Christina Elizabeth Malcolm Lean
💍 1910/7521

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 years
15 years

In the Trinity Methodist Church, Dunedin

10/7899

17 October 1910

T. W. Fairclough

No	506
Date of Notice	17 October 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest George Clayton	Christina Elizabeth Malcolm Lean
	💍 1910/7521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the Trinity Methodist Church, Dunedin
Folio	10/7899
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1910
Officiating Minister	T. W. Fairclough

507

17 October 1910

James Brownlee
Mabel Gregory

James Brownlee
Mabel Gregory
💍 1910/7900

Widower
Spinster

Dyer

38
35

Roslyn
Roslyn

3 days
18 years

In the Methodist Church, Roslyn

10/8339

17 October 1910

J. W. Newbold

No	507
Date of Notice	17 October 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brownlee	Mabel Gregory
	💍 1910/7900
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Dyer
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church, Roslyn
Folio	10/8339
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1910
Officiating Minister	J. W. Newbold

508

17 October 1910

Arthur Samuel Taylor
Isabella Bain

Arthur Samuel Taylor
Isabella Bain
💍 1910/7528

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

29
26

Dunedin
Mornington

26 years
26 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Mornington

10/7906

17 October 1910

Wm Scorgie

No	508
Date of Notice	17 October 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Samuel Taylor	Isabella Bain
	💍 1910/7528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	26 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Mornington
Folio	10/7906
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1910
Officiating Minister	Wm Scorgie

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).