Intentions to Marry, 1912 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840450, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 437

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1912 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

13 January 1912

Harold Edmund Collie
Sarah Jane Beattie

Harold Edmund Collie
Sarah Jane Beattie
💍 1912/571

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
9 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/219

13 January 1912

H. Maxwell

No	17
Date of Notice	13 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Edmund Collie	Sarah Jane Beattie
	💍 1912/571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	9 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/219
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

15 January 1912

William John Shand
Fanny May Josephine Bremner

William John Shand
Fanny May Josephine Bremner
💍 1912/1261

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

22
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
5 years

In Knox Church Manse Dunedin

12/888

15 January 1912

R. E. Davies

No	18
Date of Notice	15 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Shand	Fanny May Josephine Bremner
	💍 1912/1261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Manse Dunedin
Folio	12/888
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1912
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

15 January 1912

Sydney Hercules Kelly
Phillipa Redman

Sydney Hercules Kelley
Philippa Redman
💍 1912/1215

Bachelor
Spinster

Ham & bacon Curer

27
24

Dunedin
Roslyn

16 months
12 months

In the House of the Rev. P. W. Fairclough York Place Dunedin

12/915

15 January 1912

P. W. Fairclough

No	19
Date of Notice	15 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Hercules Kelly	Phillipa Redman
BDM Match (91%)	Sydney Hercules Kelley	Philippa Redman
	💍 1912/1215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ham & bacon Curer
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	16 months	12 months
Marriage Place	In the House of the Rev. P. W. Fairclough York Place Dunedin
Folio	12/915
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1912
Officiating Minister	P. W. Fairclough

16 January 1912

George Thomas Wilson
Catherine Matilda Livingston

George Thomas Wilson
Catherine Matilda Livingston
💍 1912/1223

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Station Master

28
28

Roslyn
Dunedin

4 days
4 days

In the First Church Dunedin

12/922

16 January 1912

R. Scott Allan

No	20
Date of Notice	16 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Wilson	Catherine Matilda Livingston
	💍 1912/1223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Station Master
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	In the First Church Dunedin
Folio	12/922
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1912
Officiating Minister	R. Scott Allan

16 January 1912

William Spriggs
Catherine Caunt Smith

William Spriggs
Catherine Caunt Smith
💍 1912/574

William Harry Butt
Catherine Smith
💍 1912/5784

Widower
Widow

Retired

83
66

Dunedin
Dunedin

30 years
40 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/221

16 January 1912

H. Maxwell

No	21
Date of Notice	16 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Spriggs	Catherine Caunt Smith
	💍 1912/574
BDM Match (61%)	William Harry Butt	Catherine Smith
	💍 1912/5784
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Retired
Age	83	66
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	40 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/221
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

16 January 1912

Alfred Joseph Wood
Jane Niven Andrew

Alfred Joseph Wood
Jane Niven Andrew
💍 1912/1260

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer

27
21

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

4 years
6 months

In the house of Mr E. Wood 162 Macandrew Road South Dunedin

12/887

16 January 1912

R. E. Davies

No	22
Date of Notice	16 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Joseph Wood	Jane Niven Andrew
	💍 1912/1260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr E. Wood 162 Macandrew Road South Dunedin
Folio	12/887
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1912
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

16 January 1912

Dugald Bekhoff
Eveline Marks

Dugald Eckhoff
Eveline Marks
💍 1912/1279

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

22 years
16 years

In the house of Mr C. R. Marks 38 Heriot Row Dunedin

12/884

16 January 1912

R. E. Davies

No	23
Date of Notice	16 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dugald Bekhoff	Eveline Marks
BDM Match (93%)	Dugald Eckhoff	Eveline Marks
	💍 1912/1279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr C. R. Marks 38 Heriot Row Dunedin
Folio	12/884
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1912
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

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).