Intentions to Marry, 1913 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840453, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1913 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1913a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1913b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1913c).

Page 472

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1913 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

4 February 1913

Cyril Gordon Hall
Mabel Hannah Langdon

Cyril Gordon Hall
Mabel Hannah Langdon
💍 1913/2523

Bachelor
Spinster

cook

21 years
17 years

Dunedin
Maori Hill

3 days
15 years

In the house of Mr H Langdon, Cannington Road, Maori Hill

13/2092

Henry Langdon, father

4 February 1913

R. Fairmaid

No	62
Date of Notice	4 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Gordon Hall	Mabel Hannah Langdon
	💍 1913/2523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	cook
Age	21 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr H Langdon, Cannington Road, Maori Hill
Folio	13/2092
Consent	Henry Langdon, father
Date of Certificate	4 February 1913
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

5 February 1913

Cyril William Birch
Violet Isabel Williams

Cyril William Birch
Violet Isobel Williams
💍 1913/2175

Bachelor
Spinster

clerk

32 years
27 years

Dunedin
Mornington

12 years
27 years

In St Matthew's Church, Dunedin

13/1665

5 February 1913

W. Burzon Siggers

No	63
Date of Notice	5 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril William Birch	Violet Isabel Williams
BDM Match (98%)	Cyril William Birch	Violet Isobel Williams
	💍 1913/2175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	clerk
Age	32 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	12 years	27 years
Marriage Place	In St Matthew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	13/1665
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1913
Officiating Minister	W. Burzon Siggers

6 February 1913

Edgar Sayers
Elizabeth May Guildford

Edgar Sayers
Elizabeth May Guildford
💍 1913/334

Bachelor
Spinster

butcher

23 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/216

Jane Guildford, mother

6 February 1913

H. Maxwell

No	64
Date of Notice	6 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Sayers	Elizabeth May Guildford
	💍 1913/334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	butcher
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/216
Consent	Jane Guildford, mother
Date of Certificate	6 February 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

6 February 1913

James Mason
Margaret Gwynne Holmes

James Mason
Margaret Gwynne Holmes
💍 1913/2177

Bachelor
Spinster

clerk

26 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

26 years
20 years

In St Matthew's Church, Dunedin

13/1667

6 February 1913

W. Burzon Siggers

No	65
Date of Notice	6 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mason	Margaret Gwynne Holmes
	💍 1913/2177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	clerk
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In St Matthew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	13/1667
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1913
Officiating Minister	W. Burzon Siggers

6 February 1913

Alfred Norton Price
Annie McKenzie

Alfred Norton Price
Annie McKenzie
💍 1913/2522

Bachelor
Spinster

piano-tuner

30 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

30 years
28 years

In the house of the Rev. R. Fairmaid, 33 Young Street, St Kilda

13/2091

6 February 1913

R. Fairmaid

No	66
Date of Notice	6 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Norton Price	Annie McKenzie
	💍 1913/2522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	piano-tuner
Age	30 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	28 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. R. Fairmaid, 33 Young Street, St Kilda
Folio	13/2091
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1913
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

6 February 1913

Joseph William Bates
Maxwell Forfar Hutton Moodie

Joseph William Bates
Maxwell Forfar Hutton Moodie
💍 1913/2572

Widower
Spinster

chemist

39 years
36 years

Hastings
Dunedin

11 years
36 years

In the house of Mr H. Moodie, 32 Royal Terrace, Dunedin

13/2117

6 February 1913

W. G. Dixon

No	67
Date of Notice	6 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Bates	Maxwell Forfar Hutton Moodie
	💍 1913/2572
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	chemist
Age	39 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 years	36 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr H. Moodie, 32 Royal Terrace, Dunedin
Folio	13/2117
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1913
Officiating Minister	W. G. Dixon

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).