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 859

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1912 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

191

25 November 1912

Archibald Sellers
Cecelia Nellie Dowling

Archibald Sellars
Cecilia Nellie Dowling
💍 1912/9252

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
23

Woodlands, Invercargill
Longbush, Invercargill

14 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

12/8540

25 November 1912

Rev. T. S. Kavanagh

No	191
Date of Notice	25 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Sellers	Cecelia Nellie Dowling
BDM Match (95%)	Archibald Sellars	Cecilia Nellie Dowling
	💍 1912/9252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Woodlands, Invercargill	Longbush, Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	12/8540
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. S. Kavanagh

192

26 November 1912

Robert McMillan Palmer
Elizabeth Harriet Palmer

Robert McMillan
Elizabeth Harriet Palmer
💍 1912/9275

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
23

East Road, Invercargill
East Road, Invercargill

9 months
1 year 7 months

Residence of William Palmer, East Road, Invercargill

12/8546

26 November 1912

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	192
Date of Notice	26 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McMillan Palmer	Elizabeth Harriet Palmer
BDM Match (84%)	Robert McMillan	Elizabeth Harriet Palmer
	💍 1912/9275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	East Road, Invercargill	East Road, Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 months	1 year 7 months
Marriage Place	Residence of William Palmer, East Road, Invercargill
Folio	12/8546
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

193

26 November 1912

Rowan Alexander Strendall
Esther Josephine Mackley

Hewan Alexander Archdall
Esther Josephine Mackley
💍 1912/5448

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Agent
Domestic

35
32

Winton, Southland
Eye Street, Invercargill

14 months
2 months

All Saints Church, Winton

12/9110

26 November 1912

Rev. P. Jones

No	193
Date of Notice	26 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rowan Alexander Strendall	Esther Josephine Mackley
BDM Match (88%)	Hewan Alexander Archdall	Esther Josephine Mackley
	💍 1912/5448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Agent	Domestic
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Winton, Southland	Eye Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 months	2 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Winton
Folio	12/9110
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Jones

194

28 November 1912

James Neilson Stirling
Agnes Armstrong Stewart

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Home Duties

26
24

Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Balclutha, Otago

26 years
1 year

Strobe Hall, First Church, Balclutha

12/8547

28 November 1912

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	194
Date of Notice	28 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Neilson Stirling	Agnes Armstrong Stewart
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Home Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street, Invercargill	Balclutha, Otago
Length of Residence	26 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Strobe Hall, First Church, Balclutha
Folio	12/8547
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

195

30 November 1912

Robert Taylor Sommerville
Mary Hannah Boyce

Robert Taylor Sommerville
Daisy Hannah Boyce
💍 1913/2271

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Nurse

22
27

Yarrow Street, Invercargill
Mangaweka, Invercargill

5 years
27 years

All Saints Church, Invercargill

13/1811

3 December 1912

Rev. T. R. Racks

No	195
Date of Notice	30 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Taylor Sommerville	Mary Hannah Boyce
BDM Match (92%)	Robert Taylor Sommerville	Daisy Hannah Boyce
	💍 1913/2271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Nurse
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Yarrow Street, Invercargill	Mangaweka, Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	27 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Invercargill
Folio	13/1811
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. Racks

196

30 November 1912

Henry James Partridge
Josephine Jones

Henry James Partridge
Josephine Jones
💍 1912/5454

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Mailman

33
30

Dee Street, Invercargill
Dee Street, Invercargill

9 months
14 months

Presbyterian Church, Invercargill

12/9116

30 November 1912

Rev. J. M. Burriagh

No	196
Date of Notice	30 November 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Partridge	Josephine Jones
	💍 1912/5454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Mailman
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Dee Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 months	14 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Invercargill
Folio	12/9116
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 November 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Burriagh

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).