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 458

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Allan R.

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

171

28 March 1912

Frederick George Shrimpton
Mabel Isabella Binnie

Frederick George Shrimpton
Mabel Isabella Binnie
💍 1912/3104

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor
Milliner

21 years
22 years

St Kilda
St Kilda

7 years
6 years

In the Methodist Church, Queen's Drive, St Kilda

12/2804

28 March 1912

D. J. Murray

No	171
Date of Notice	28 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Shrimpton	Mabel Isabella Binnie
	💍 1912/3104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	Milliner
Age	21 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	St Kilda
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church, Queen's Drive, St Kilda
Folio	12/2804
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1912
Officiating Minister	D. J. Murray

172

28 March 1912

William Renton
Harriet Rhoda Roulston

William Renton
Harriet Rhoda Roulston
💍 1912/4527

Bachelor
Spinster

School teacher

34 years
34 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

28 years
2 years

In the house of Mr. R. Hislop, 756 George Street, Dunedin

12/4295

28 March 1912

R. Waddell

No	172
Date of Notice	28 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Renton	Harriet Rhoda Roulston
	💍 1912/4527
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School teacher
Age	34 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. R. Hislop, 756 George Street, Dunedin
Folio	12/4295
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1912
Officiating Minister	R. Waddell

173

29 March 1912

John William Burnet
Isabella Miles Hopcraft

John William Burnet
Isabella Miles Hopcraft
💍 1912/4266

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

54 years
47 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

17 years
47 years

In All Saints Church, Dunedin

12/4133

29 March 1912

A. R. Fitchett

No	173
Date of Notice	29 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Burnet	Isabella Miles Hopcraft
	💍 1912/4266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	54 years	47 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	17 years	47 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church, Dunedin
Folio	12/4133
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1912
Officiating Minister	A. R. Fitchett

174

29 March 1912

Walter James Hogg
Margaret Jane Waller

Walter James Hogg
Margaret Jane Walker
💍 1912/3058

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26 years
29 years

Timaru
Dunedin

4 years
13 years

In the Baptist Church, Oxford Street, South Dunedin

12/2833

29 March 1912

Wm. Perry

No	174
Date of Notice	29 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Hogg	Margaret Jane Waller
BDM Match (98%)	Walter James Hogg	Margaret Jane Walker
	💍 1912/3058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, Oxford Street, South Dunedin
Folio	12/2833
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Wm. Perry

175

30 March 1912

Leonard Arthur Warren
Helen Finlayson

Leonard Arthur Warren
Helen Finlayson
💍 1912/2938

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

31 years
30 years

South Dunedin
Dunedin

31 years
6 years

In the First Church Vestry, Dunedin

12/2787

30 March 1912

G. H. Balfour

No	175
Date of Notice	30 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Arthur Warren	Helen Finlayson
	💍 1912/2938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	31 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	31 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	12/2787
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1912
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

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).