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 444

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1911

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

282

12 May 1911

David Henry Monson
Harriet Margaret Tudor

David Henry Monson
Harriet Margaret Tudor
💍 1911/8861

Bachelor
Spinster

Stereotyper
Tailoress

29
36

Dunedin
Caversham

29 years
18 years

Low School, Grosvenor Street, Caversham

11/3268

12 May 1911

R. H. Wylie

No	282
Date of Notice	12 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Henry Monson	Harriet Margaret Tudor
	💍 1911/8861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stereotyper	Tailoress
Age	29	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	29 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Low School, Grosvenor Street, Caversham
Folio	11/3268
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1911
Officiating Minister	R. H. Wylie

283

12 May 1911

Robert John Wilson
Charlotte Brown

Robert John Wilson
Charlotte Brown
💍 1911/6307

Bachelor
Spinster

Manufacturer

28
22

West Harbour
Caversham

13 years
6 months

In the house of Mr. W. G. Wilson, Seddon Street, West Harbour

11/6232

12 May 1911

J. J. O'Reilly

No	283
Date of Notice	12 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Wilson	Charlotte Brown
	💍 1911/6307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	West Harbour	Caversham
Length of Residence	13 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. W. G. Wilson, Seddon Street, West Harbour
Folio	11/6232
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1911
Officiating Minister	J. J. O'Reilly

284

12 May 1911

Albert Edward Dyson
Isabella Campbell Wilson

Albert Edward Dyson
Isabella Campbell Wilson
💍 1911/6308

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver

33
30

North East Valley
West Harbour

25 years
13 years

In the house of Mr. W. G. Wilson, Seddon Street, West Harbour

11/6233

12 May 1911

J. J. O'Reilly

No	284
Date of Notice	12 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Dyson	Isabella Campbell Wilson
	💍 1911/6308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	North East Valley	West Harbour
Length of Residence	25 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. W. G. Wilson, Seddon Street, West Harbour
Folio	11/6233
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1911
Officiating Minister	J. J. O'Reilly

285

13 May 1911

Benjamin James Gilders
Annie McDowell

Benjamin James Gilders
Annie McDowell
💍 1911/2396

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

30
25

South Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
11 years

On the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

11/2091

13 May 1911

H. Maxwell

No	285
Date of Notice	13 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin James Gilders	Annie McDowell
	💍 1911/2396
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	11 years
Marriage Place	On the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	11/2091
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1911
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

286

13 May 1911

Angus Urquhart
Annie Matheson

Angus Urquhart
Annie Matheson
💍 1911/9184

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway clerk

26
23

South Dunedin
Mosgiel

4 months
1 year

In the Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel

11/3701

13 May 1911

J. Aitken

No	286
Date of Notice	13 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Urquhart	Annie Matheson
	💍 1911/9184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway clerk
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Mosgiel
Length of Residence	4 months	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Mosgiel
Folio	11/3701
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1911
Officiating Minister	J. Aitken

287

15 May 1911

Charles Bain
Margaret Baxter Woods

Charles Bain
Margaret Baxter Woods
💍 1911/2407

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter

27
17

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
17 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

11/2092

John Woods, father

15 May 1911

H. Maxwell

No	287
Date of Notice	15 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bain	Margaret Baxter Woods
	💍 1911/2407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	11/2092
Consent	John Woods, father
Date of Certificate	15 May 1911
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

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).