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 605

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar John Gaunson Petrie

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

1 January 1911

Augustine John Mullan
Annie Agnes Maloney

Augustus John Mullon
Annie Agnes Maloney
💍 1911/2124

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housewife

24
25

West Plains, Invercargill
West Plains, Invercargill

3 days
25 years

Roman Catholic Church, Neill Street, Invercargill

11/1710

1 January 1911

Very Rev. T. O. Burke

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustine John Mullan	Annie Agnes Maloney
BDM Match (91%)	Augustus John Mullon	Annie Agnes Maloney
	💍 1911/2124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housewife
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	West Plains, Invercargill	West Plains, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Neill Street, Invercargill
Folio	11/1710
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. T. O. Burke

7 January 1911

Percy Walter Smith
Florence Emily Helm

Percy Walter Smith
Florence Emily Helen
💍 1911/1856

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith
Dressmaker

22
18

Clifton, Invercargill
Clifton, Invercargill

4 years
18 years

Residence of George Helm, Clifton, Invercargill

11/1433

George Helm, Father

7 January 1911

Rev. R. Morgan

No	2
Date of Notice	7 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Walter Smith	Florence Emily Helm
BDM Match (95%)	Percy Walter Smith	Florence Emily Helen
	💍 1911/1856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith	Dressmaker
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Clifton, Invercargill	Clifton, Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Helm, Clifton, Invercargill
Folio	11/1433
Consent	George Helm, Father
Date of Certificate	7 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Morgan

9 January 1911

William John Taylor
Frances Emily Talbot

William John Taylor
Frances Emily Talbot
💍 1911/1986

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

29
20

Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Ettrick Street, Invercargill

7 years
1 month

Residence of William Talbot, Ettrick Street, Invercargill

11/1537

John Talbot, Father

9 January 1911

Rev. L. Shaw

No	3
Date of Notice	9 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Taylor	Frances Emily Talbot
	💍 1911/1986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Ettrick Street, Invercargill	Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of William Talbot, Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Folio	11/1537
Consent	John Talbot, Father
Date of Certificate	9 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Shaw

10 January 1911

Daniel Swan Souness
Ivy Constance Souness

Daniel Swan
Ivy Constance Souness
💍 1911/2099

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

20
20

Liddel Street, Invercargill
Liddel Street, Invercargill

14 years
3 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

11/1577

James Souness, Father

10 January 1911

Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

No	4
Date of Notice	10 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Swan Souness	Ivy Constance Souness
BDM Match (79%)	Daniel Swan	Ivy Constance Souness
	💍 1911/2099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Liddel Street, Invercargill	Liddel Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill
Folio	11/1577
Consent	James Souness, Father
Date of Certificate	10 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Invercargill

10 January 1911

John James Fullerton Campbell
Elizabeth Ferguson Reid

John James Fullarton Campbell
Elizabeth Ferguson Reid
💍 1911/1898

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

27
24

Don Street, Invercargill
Begg Street, Invercargill

27 years
29 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Eller Road, Invercargill

11/1398

14 January 1911

Rev. J. A. D. Ryburn

No	5
Date of Notice	10 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Fullerton Campbell	Elizabeth Ferguson Reid
BDM Match (98%)	John James Fullarton Campbell	Elizabeth Ferguson Reid
	💍 1911/1898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Don Street, Invercargill	Begg Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	27 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Eller Road, Invercargill
Folio	11/1398
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. D. Ryburn

17 January 1911

Daniel Paul Phillips
Mary Imelda Maher

Daniel Paul Phillips
Mary Imilda Maher
💍 1911/2123

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk of Court
Music Teacher

29
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

11/709

Elizabeth Began, Mother

17 January 1911

Very Rev. T. O. Burke

No	6
Date of Notice	17 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Paul Phillips	Mary Imelda Maher
BDM Match (97%)	Daniel Paul Phillips	Mary Imilda Maher
	💍 1911/2123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk of Court	Music Teacher
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	11/709
Consent	Elizabeth Began, Mother
Date of Certificate	17 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. T. O. Burke

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).