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 443

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1910

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

395

15 August 1910

Fred Graham
Ethel Harris

Fred Graham
Ethel Harris
💍 1910/4944

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter
Spinner

23 years
19 years

St Kilda
Mornington

14 years
10 years

In the House of Mr Philip Harris, Glen Road, Mornington

10/5194

Philip Harris, Father

15 August 1910

Wm Scorgie

No	395
Date of Notice	15 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Graham	Ethel Harris
	💍 1910/4944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter	Spinner
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	Mornington
Length of Residence	14 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr Philip Harris, Glen Road, Mornington
Folio	10/5194
Consent	Philip Harris, Father
Date of Certificate	15 August 1910
Officiating Minister	Wm Scorgie

396

15 August 1910

Walter Robert Keen
Lily Susan Thompson

Walter Robert Keen
Lily Susan Thompson
💍 1910/5045

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26 years
19 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

7 years
4 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

10/5249

Thomas Thompson, Father

15 August 1910

H. Maxwell

No	396
Date of Notice	15 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Robert Keen	Lily Susan Thompson
	💍 1910/5045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	10/5249
Consent	Thomas Thompson, Father
Date of Certificate	15 August 1910
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

397

16 August 1910

Charles William Harris
Alice Maude Gill

Charles William Harris
Alice Maude Gill
💍 1910/5046

Divorced
Spinster

Accountant

50 years
38 years

St Kilda
St Kilda

7 years
7 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

10/5250

16 August 1910

H. Maxwell

No	397
Date of Notice	16 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Harris	Alice Maude Gill
	💍 1910/5046
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	50 years	38 years
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	St Kilda
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	10/5250
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1910
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

398

16 August 1910

Duncan Macdonald
Christina Currie

Duncan Macdonald
Christina Currie
💍 1910/114

Bachelor
Spinster

Store Keeper

26 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
4 days

In the Presbyterian Church, Caversham

10/5894

16 August 1910

D. Dutton

No	398
Date of Notice	16 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Macdonald	Christina Currie
	💍 1910/114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store Keeper
Age	26 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	4 days
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Caversham
Folio	10/5894
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1910
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

399

17 August 1910

Cornelius Cumming Hammond
Rosina Kitchen

Cornelius Cumming Hammond
Rosina Kitchen
💍 1910/5646

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
2 weeks

In the house of Mr Thos. Towler, Richmond Street, South Dunedin

10/5895

James Kitchen, Father

17 August 1910

D. Dutton

No	399
Date of Notice	17 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Cumming Hammond	Rosina Kitchen
	💍 1910/5646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Thos. Towler, Richmond Street, South Dunedin
Folio	10/5895
Consent	James Kitchen, Father
Date of Certificate	17 August 1910
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

400

17 August 1910

Leonard Arthur Kirby
Violet Winifred Keen

Leonard Arthur Kirby
Violet Winifred Keen
💍 1910/4988

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

22 years
25 years

Green Island Bush
South Dunedin

2 months
4 weeks

In the Methodist Church, Wesley Street, South Dunedin

10/5738

17 August 1910

D. S. Murray

No	400
Date of Notice	17 August 1910
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Arthur Kirby	Violet Winifred Keen
	💍 1910/4988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	22 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Green Island Bush	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	4 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church, Wesley Street, South Dunedin
Folio	10/5738
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1910
Officiating Minister	D. S. Murray

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).