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 518

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 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

544

21 October 1912

Norman Henry Harvey
Esther Williams

Norman Henry Harvey
Esther Williams
💍 1912/9147

Thomas Henry Carswell
Alice Williams
💍 1912/2626

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

21
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

21 years
24 years

In the house of Mr P. Williams, 89 Frederick Street, Dunedin

12/8410

21 October 1912

W. Slade

No	544
Date of Notice	21 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Henry Harvey	Esther Williams
	💍 1912/9147
BDM Match (62%)	Thomas Henry Carswell	Alice Williams
	💍 1912/2626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	21 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr P. Williams, 89 Frederick Street, Dunedin
Folio	12/8410
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1912
Officiating Minister	W. Slade

545

22 October 1912

Edmund Williams
Annie Charlotte Marr

Edmund Williams
Annie Charlotte Marr
💍 1912/5459

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
23

Caversham
Caversham

3 days
3 years

In the Congregational Church, St Clair

12/9100

22 October 1912

W. J. Ashford

No	545
Date of Notice	22 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Williams	Annie Charlotte Marr
	💍 1912/5459
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Congregational Church, St Clair
Folio	12/9100
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1912
Officiating Minister	W. J. Ashford

546

22 October 1912

Alfred Hugh Brawley
Ruby Marguerite Park

Alfred Hugh Crawley
Ruby Margaret Park
💍 1912/5231

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

29
29

West Harbour
Dunedin

12 years
29 years

In the house of Mr J. A. Park, 33 Manor Place, Dunedin

12/8789

22 October 1912

R. Waddell

No	546
Date of Notice	22 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hugh Brawley	Ruby Marguerite Park
BDM Match (87%)	Alfred Hugh Crawley	Ruby Margaret Park
	💍 1912/5231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	West Harbour	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 years	29 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. A. Park, 33 Manor Place, Dunedin
Folio	12/8789
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1912
Officiating Minister	R. Waddell

547

22 October 1912

Robert Cockburn
Annie Simpson

Robert Cockburn
Annie Simpson
💍 1912/5473

Walter Robert Beer
Annie Simpson
💍 1912/5893

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

43
43

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

10 years
4 years

In the house of Mr R. Cockburn, 24 Butten Street, South Dunedin

12/9085

22 October 1912

R. Fairmaid

No	547
Date of Notice	22 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Cockburn	Annie Simpson
	💍 1912/5473
BDM Match (61%)	Walter Robert Beer	Annie Simpson
	💍 1912/5893
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	43	43
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr R. Cockburn, 24 Butten Street, South Dunedin
Folio	12/9085
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1912
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

548

23 October 1912

Walter John Bartlett
Irene Ellison Millar

Walter John Bartlett
Irene Ellison Millar
💍 1912/9137

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

36
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
6 weeks

In the house of Mr J. Dallas, 12 Elm Row, Dunedin

12/8327

23 October 1912

R. E. Davies

No	548
Date of Notice	23 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Bartlett	Irene Ellison Millar
	💍 1912/9137
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. Dallas, 12 Elm Row, Dunedin
Folio	12/8327
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1912
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

549

23 October 1912

Henry Greenfield Irvine
Marion Munro Black

Henry Greenfield Irvine
Marion Munro Clark
💍 1912/8827

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

32
26

South Dunedin
Dunedin

30 years
26 years

In the house of Mr H. Black, 48 Russell Street, Dunedin

12/8364

23 October 1912

W. Hay

No	549
Date of Notice	23 October 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Greenfield Irvine	Marion Munro Black
BDM Match (94%)	Henry Greenfield Irvine	Marion Munro Clark
	💍 1912/8827
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr H. Black, 48 Russell Street, Dunedin
Folio	12/8364
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1912
Officiating Minister	W. Hay

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).