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 445

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1902 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

12 February 1902

Douglas Francis Hamilton Reid
Helen Barron

Douglas Francis Hamilton Reid
Helen Barron
💍 1912/2084

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer

37
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In St Stephens Church Dunedin

12/1772

12 February 1902

I. K. McIntyre

No	75
Date of Notice	12 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Francis Hamilton Reid	Helen Barron
	💍 1912/2084
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer
Age	37	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In St Stephens Church Dunedin
Folio	12/1772
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1902
Officiating Minister	I. K. McIntyre

12 February 1902

George William Purton
Mary Jane Casey

George William Purton
Mary Jane Casey
💍 1912/2068

Bachelor
Spinster

Coalmerchant

32
27

Roslyn
Roslyn

7 years
9 years

In St Josephs Cathedral Dunedin

12/1733

12 February 1902

Wm Corcoran

No	76
Date of Notice	12 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Purton	Mary Jane Casey
	💍 1912/2068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coalmerchant
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	7 years	9 years
Marriage Place	In St Josephs Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	12/1733
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Wm Corcoran

13 February 1902

Walter McIntosh
Richenie Maude Marguerite Watkins

Walter McIntosh
Richenie Maude Marguerite Watkins
💍 1912/1268

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

44
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In St Matthew Church Dunedin

12/895

13 February 1902

W. Curzon-Siggers

No	77
Date of Notice	13 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter McIntosh	Richenie Maude Marguerite Watkins
	💍 1912/1268
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	44	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In St Matthew Church Dunedin
Folio	12/895
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1902
Officiating Minister	W. Curzon-Siggers

13 February 1902

William Hislop
Catherine Barton

William Hislop
Catherine Barton
💍 1912/1209

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
Machinist

23
21

Caversham
Dunedin

6 years
21 years

In the Baptist Church South Dunedin

12/901

13 February 1902

Wm Perry

No	78
Date of Notice	13 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hislop	Catherine Barton
	💍 1912/1209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	Machinist
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church South Dunedin
Folio	12/901
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1902
Officiating Minister	Wm Perry

13 February 1902

Robert Dawson Kessell
Mabel Charlotte Palmer

Robert Dawson Kesson
Mabel Charlotte Palmer
💍 1912/616

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
4 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/239

13 February 1902

H. Maxwell

No	79
Date of Notice	13 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Dawson Kessell	Mabel Charlotte Palmer
BDM Match (93%)	Robert Dawson Kesson	Mabel Charlotte Palmer
	💍 1912/616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/239
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1902
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

14 February 1902

Frederic Sidney Shrimpton
Janet Allan

Frederic Sidney Shrimpton
Janet Allan
💍 1912/4355

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Schoolteacher

35
28

Dunedin
Roslyn

3 days
2 years

In the house of Mr L. Morrison, 2 William Street Dunedin

12/4221

14 February 1902

G. Dixon

No	80
Date of Notice	14 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Sidney Shrimpton	Janet Allan
	💍 1912/4355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Schoolteacher
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr L. Morrison, 2 William Street Dunedin
Folio	12/4221
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1902
Officiating Minister	G. Dixon

14 February 1902

Charles Alexander Clark Legg
Margaret Georgina Bates

Charles Alexander Clark Legg
Margaret Georgina Bates
💍 1912/1227

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

23
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
3 months

In the house of Mr W. M. Legg, 604 Castle Street Dunedin

12/903

Elizabeth Bates, mother

14 February 1902

D. S. Mason

No	81
Date of Notice	14 February 1902
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alexander Clark Legg	Margaret Georgina Bates
	💍 1912/1227
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr W. M. Legg, 604 Castle Street Dunedin
Folio	12/903
Consent	Elizabeth Bates, mother
Date of Certificate	14 February 1902
Officiating Minister	D. S. Mason

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).