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 823

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 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

15 January 1912

Archie Little Howie
Evelyn Annie Rames

Archie Little Howie
Evelyn Annie Raines
💍 1912/411

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Agent
Housemaid

28
21

Leith Street, Invercargill
Leith Street, Invercargill

7 years Residence
20 years Residence

St. Elizabeth, 128 Leith Street, Invercargill

12/1102

15 January 1912

Rev. J. A. Ryburn

No	7
Date of Notice	15 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archie Little Howie	Evelyn Annie Rames
BDM Match (95%)	Archie Little Howie	Evelyn Annie Raines
	💍 1912/411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Agent	Housemaid
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Leith Street, Invercargill	Leith Street, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years Residence	20 years Residence
Marriage Place	St. Elizabeth, 128 Leith Street, Invercargill
Folio	12/1102
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Ryburn

15 January 1912

William Henry Hancock
Jane Nisbet Steill

William Stark Adcock
Jane Nisbet Neill
💍 1912/1498

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic

26
23

North End, Invercargill
North End, Invercargill

26 years
9 days

English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill

12/1101

15 January 1912

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	8
Date of Notice	15 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hancock	Jane Nisbet Steill
BDM Match (78%)	William Stark Adcock	Jane Nisbet Neill
	💍 1912/1498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	North End, Invercargill	North End, Invercargill
Length of Residence	26 years	9 days
Marriage Place	English Church, Gladstone, Invercargill
Folio	12/1101
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

20 January 1912

Thomas Smith Guthrie
Margaret Metcalf Graham

Thomas English Guthrie
Margaret Metcalf
💍 1912/1503

Bachelor
Spinster

Arch-Burner
Domestic

30
28

Gladstone, Invercargill
Gladstone, Invercargill

7 years Residence
2 days

Presbyterian Church, William Street, Invercargill

12/1083

20 January 1912

Rev. J. Hall

No	9
Date of Notice	20 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Smith Guthrie	Margaret Metcalf Graham
BDM Match (73%)	Thomas English Guthrie	Margaret Metcalf
	💍 1912/1503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Arch-Burner	Domestic
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Gladstone, Invercargill	Gladstone, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years Residence	2 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, William Street, Invercargill
Folio	12/1083
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hall

22 January 1912

Herbert Daniel Marshall
Helen Elizabeth Anderson

Herbert Davies Marshall
Helen Elizabeth Anderson
💍 1912/2039

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic

39
30

Dee Street, Invercargill
North Road, Invercargill

10 years Residence
30 years

Presbyterian Church, Andrew Anderson, Invercargill

12/1703

22 January 1912

Rev. M. Rennie

No	10
Date of Notice	22 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Daniel Marshall	Helen Elizabeth Anderson
BDM Match (96%)	Herbert Davies Marshall	Helen Elizabeth Anderson
	💍 1912/2039
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	North Road, Invercargill
Length of Residence	10 years Residence	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Andrew Anderson, Invercargill
Folio	12/1703
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Rennie

25 January 1912

Desmond Thomas Peanon
Ethel Annie Campbell

Tom Devonald Pearson
Ethel Annie Campbell
💍 1912/431

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Merchant
Accountant

28
24

Dee Street, Invercargill
Lindisfarne, Invercargill

7 days
4 months

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

12/1106

25 January 1912

Rev. J. M. Craie

No	11
Date of Notice	25 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Desmond Thomas Peanon	Ethel Annie Campbell
BDM Match (67%)	Tom Devonald Pearson	Ethel Annie Campbell
	💍 1912/431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant	Accountant
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Dee Street, Invercargill	Lindisfarne, Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	12/1106
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Craie

23 January 1912

Samuel Swan Wright
Isabella Ann Wright

Samuel Irwin
Isabella Anne Wright
💍 1912/2040

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
28

Liddel Street, Invercargill
Rathalouha, Invercargill

300 days
6 months

Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill

12/1704

23 January 1912

Rev. J. M. Rennie

No	12
Date of Notice	23 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Swan Wright	Isabella Ann Wright
BDM Match (70%)	Samuel Irwin	Isabella Anne Wright
	💍 1912/2040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Liddel Street, Invercargill	Rathalouha, Invercargill
Length of Residence	300 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dee Street, Invercargill
Folio	12/1704
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Rennie

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).