Intentions to Marry, 1911 Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840447, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 407

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1911 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

30 January 1911

Eric Lousley
Ruby Mary Leigh

Eric Lonsley
Ruby Macy Leigh
💍 1911/1691

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

20 years
19 years

Mornington
Dunedin

2 years
19 years

In the house of Mrs L. E. T. Leigh, 612 Great King Street, Dunedin

[illegible]

George Lousley, Father; Lillias Elizabeth Thomson Leigh, Mother

30 January 1911

J. K. McIntyre

No	43
Date of Notice	30 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Lousley	Ruby Mary Leigh
BDM Match (93%)	Eric Lonsley	Ruby Macy Leigh
	💍 1911/1691
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	20 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs L. E. T. Leigh, 612 Great King Street, Dunedin
Folio	[illegible]
Consent	George Lousley, Father; Lillias Elizabeth Thomson Leigh, Mother
Date of Certificate	30 January 1911
Officiating Minister	J. K. McIntyre

31 January 1911

Roland Alfred Parker
Cora Ada Rooney

Rowland Alfred Parker
Cora Ada Rooney
💍 1911/1800

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruitgrower

41 years
26 years

Dunedin
North East Valley

3 days
2 weeks

In the house of Mr P. R. Douglas, McGlashan Street, North East Valley

11/1272

31 January 1911

G. R. Smith

No	44
Date of Notice	31 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Alfred Parker	Cora Ada Rooney
BDM Match (98%)	Rowland Alfred Parker	Cora Ada Rooney
	💍 1911/1800
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruitgrower
Age	41 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	North East Valley
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr P. R. Douglas, McGlashan Street, North East Valley
Folio	11/1272
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1911
Officiating Minister	G. R. Smith

1 February 1911

Alexander Kear Provan
Janet Graham Mason

Alexander Kear Provan
Janet Graham Mason
💍 1911/1705

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotypist

31 years
31 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
30 years

In the house of Mrs M. Mason, 46 Maitland Street, Dunedin

11/1252

1 February 1911

E. A. Axelsen

No	45
Date of Notice	1 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Kear Provan	Janet Graham Mason
	💍 1911/1705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotypist
Age	31 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs M. Mason, 46 Maitland Street, Dunedin
Folio	11/1252
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1911
Officiating Minister	E. A. Axelsen

1 February 1911

Henry Ede
Margaret Nichol

Henry Ede
Margaret Nichol
💍 1911/4363

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28 years
25 years

St. Kilda
St. Kilda

3 days
3 days

In the house of Mr J. Sneddon, 50 Prince Albert Road, St. Kilda

11/4129

1 February 1911

A. W. Kinmont

No	46
Date of Notice	1 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ede	Margaret Nichol
	💍 1911/4363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. Sneddon, 50 Prince Albert Road, St. Kilda
Folio	11/4129
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1911
Officiating Minister	A. W. Kinmont

1 February 1911

David Robertson
Mary Ayres Robertson

David Robertson
Mary Ayre Robertson
💍 1911/367

David Walker Robertson
Mattie Robertson
💍 1911/2763

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

55 years
46 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

11/1060

1 February 1911

H. Maxwell

No	47
Date of Notice	1 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Robertson	Mary Ayres Robertson
BDM Match (98%)	David Robertson	Mary Ayre Robertson
	💍 1911/367
BDM Match (67%)	David Walker Robertson	Mattie Robertson
	💍 1911/2763
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	55 years	46 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	11/1060
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1911
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

1 February 1911

Ronald Grainger James
Ethel Mary Grace Philp

Ronald Grainger James
Ethel Mary Grace Philp
💍 1911/4189

Bachelor
Spinster

Dresser

26 years
21 years

Green Island
South Dunedin

26 years
21 years

In St. Peter's Church, Caversham

11/4025

1 February 1911

B. M. King

No	48
Date of Notice	1 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Grainger James	Ethel Mary Grace Philp
	💍 1911/4189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dresser
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Green Island	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In St. Peter's Church, Caversham
Folio	11/4025
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1911
Officiating Minister	B. M. King

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).