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 833

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 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

2 April 1912

Brian Emal Unsworth
Margaret Cecilia Stone

Brian Errol Ussher
Margaret Ogilvie Horne
💍 1912/3914

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

20
20

Morton Mains, Invercargill
Morton Mains, Invercargill

3 days
3 years

Residence of Alfred Home, Morton Mains

12/3775

Edward Macquyon, father

2 April 1912

Rev. J. Macquyon

No	56
Date of Notice	2 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Brian Emal Unsworth	Margaret Cecilia Stone
BDM Match (61%)	Brian Errol Ussher	Margaret Ogilvie Horne
	💍 1912/3914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Morton Mains, Invercargill	Morton Mains, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Alfred Home, Morton Mains
Folio	12/3775
Consent	Edward Macquyon, father
Date of Certificate	2 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Macquyon

2 April 1912

Alfred Kent Greender
Margaret Anderson

Alfred Kent
Margaret Anderson Judge
💍 1912/3916

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

33
33

Grey St, Invercargill
Grey St, Invercargill

3 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Grey St

12/3777

Margaret Anderson, mother

2 April 1912

Rev. K. M. Kyburn

No	57
Date of Notice	2 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Kent Greender	Margaret Anderson
BDM Match (64%)	Alfred Kent	Margaret Anderson Judge
	💍 1912/3916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Grey St, Invercargill	Grey St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Grey St
Folio	12/3777
Consent	Margaret Anderson, mother
Date of Certificate	2 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. M. Kyburn

3 April 1912

Raymond Cholles Herbert
Annie Lough Middleton

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent
Domestic

24
18

65 Catherine St, Invercargill
65 Catherine St, Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Residence of Herbert Haywood, 65 Catherine St

12/3749

Thomas Middleton, father

3 April 1912

Rev. T. Archdeacon Stadler

No	58
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Cholles Herbert	Annie Lough Middleton
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent	Domestic
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	65 Catherine St, Invercargill	65 Catherine St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Herbert Haywood, 65 Catherine St
Folio	12/3749
Consent	Thomas Middleton, father
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Archdeacon Stadler

3 April 1912

Jeremiah O'Connell
Delia Leeson

Jeremiah OConnell
Delia Quinn
💍 1912/4412

Jeremiah O'Connell
Margaret Florence Corkery
💍 1912/6478

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

44
37

Dee St, Invercargill
St Andrew St, Invercargill

3 days
37 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St

12/3980

3 April 1912

Rev. F. Maranagh

No	59
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah O'Connell	Delia Leeson
BDM Match (76%)	Jeremiah OConnell	Delia Quinn
	💍 1912/4412
BDM Match (60%)	Jeremiah O'Connell	Margaret Florence Corkery
	💍 1912/6478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	44	37
Dwelling Place	Dee St, Invercargill	St Andrew St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	37 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St
Folio	12/3980
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Maranagh

3 April 1912

Thomas Turnbull
Elsie Herbert Harrison

Thomas Turnbull
Elsie Herbert Harrison
💍 1912/4340

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic

28
24

Leith St, Invercargill
Clarendon St, Dunedin

2 years
3 years

Residence of William Bonefield, Clarendon St, Dunedin

12/4183

R. Feirmian, father

3 April 1912

Rev. R. Feirmian

No	60
Date of Notice	3 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Turnbull	Elsie Herbert Harrison
	💍 1912/4340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Leith St, Invercargill	Clarendon St, Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Bonefield, Clarendon St, Dunedin
Folio	12/4183
Consent	R. Feirmian, father
Date of Certificate	3 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Feirmian

4 April 1912

Henry Marden Kerr
Ida Elizabeth Brown

Henry Warden Kerr
Ida Elizabeth Brown
💍 1912/4032

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

37
29

Grey St, Invercargill
Grey St, Invercargill

9 years
10 years

Primitive Methodist Church, Don St

12/3746

4 April 1912

Rev. D. Laycock

No	61
Date of Notice	4 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Marden Kerr	Ida Elizabeth Brown
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Warden Kerr	Ida Elizabeth Brown
	💍 1912/4032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	37	29
Dwelling Place	Grey St, Invercargill	Grey St, Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Don St
Folio	12/3746
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Laycock

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).