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 647

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 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

232

20 December 1911

Frank Francis Hall
Mary Ellen Spender

Frank Harris Hall
Mary Ellen Orr
💍 1912/425

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotypist
Clerk

31
30

Dalrymple Road, Invercargill
Ettrick Street, Oamaru

3 years
3 years

Residence of James [illegible]

12/1124

20 December 1911

Rev. W. W. Wright

No	232
Date of Notice	20 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Francis Hall	Mary Ellen Spender
BDM Match (72%)	Frank Harris Hall	Mary Ellen Orr
	💍 1912/425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotypist	Clerk
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Dalrymple Road, Invercargill	Ettrick Street, Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James [illegible]
Folio	12/1124
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Wright

233

21 December 1911

Alexander Tunnicliffe
Sarah McCann

Alexander Tunnicliffe
Sarah McCann
💍 1911/8266

Bachelor
Spinster

Domestic
Domestic

24
20

Makererwa, Invercargill
Makererwa, Invercargill

2 years
2 years

St. Peter's Catholic Church, Invercargill

11/8318

21 December 1911

Rev. W. Burke

No	233
Date of Notice	21 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Tunnicliffe	Sarah McCann
	💍 1911/8266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Domestic	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Makererwa, Invercargill	Makererwa, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	11/8318
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Burke

234

28 December 1911

Robert Brownlee
Robina Gilchrist

Robert Brownlie
Robina Gilchrist
💍 1912/1494

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Domestic

34
33

Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Leet Street, Invercargill

34 years
33 years

Residence of [illegible] Gilchrist, Leet Street

12/1097

28 December 1911

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	234
Date of Notice	28 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Brownlee	Robina Gilchrist
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Brownlie	Robina Gilchrist
	💍 1912/1494
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Domestic
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Ettrick Street, Invercargill	Leet Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	34 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Residence of [illegible] Gilchrist, Leet Street
Folio	12/1097
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

235

28 December 1911

Hugh Macdonald
Elizabeth Campbell

Hugh Macdonald
Elizabeth Campbell
💍 1911/8793

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

29
29

Annan Street, Invercargill
Ettrick Street, Invercargill

2 years
6 years

Residence of [illegible] Street

11/8782

28 December 1911

Rev. T. W. Burridge

No	235
Date of Notice	28 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Macdonald	Elizabeth Campbell
	💍 1911/8793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Annan Street, Invercargill	Ettrick Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of [illegible] Street
Folio	11/8782
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Burridge

236

28 December 1911

Thomas Hill
Gladys May Norton

Thomas McGill Sim
Gladys May Norton
💍 1911/8794

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

33
22

Elles Road, Invercargill
Leet Street, Invercargill

8 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

11/8783

28 December 1911

Rev. T. W. Burridge

No	236
Date of Notice	28 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hill	Gladys May Norton
BDM Match (79%)	Thomas McGill Sim	Gladys May Norton
	💍 1911/8794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Elles Road, Invercargill	Leet Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	11/8783
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Burridge

237

28 December 1911

John William Barron
Alexandrina Frampton

John William Barron
Maud Annie Frampton
💍 1912/1495

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

31
26

96 Esk Street, Invercargill
New Street, Invercargill

3 years
26 years

Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill

12/1098

28 December 1911

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	237
Date of Notice	28 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Barron	Alexandrina Frampton
BDM Match (75%)	John William Barron	Maud Annie Frampton
	💍 1912/1495
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	96 Esk Street, Invercargill	New Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	12/1098
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

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).