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 476

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

13 February 1913

Frank Adamson Smith
Bertha Winifred Davies

Frank Adamson Smith
Bertha Winifred Davies
💍 1913/2525

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

34 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

34 years
2 weeks

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

13/2094

13 February 1913

R. Fairmaid

No	86
Date of Notice	13 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Adamson Smith	Bertha Winifred Davies
	💍 1913/2525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	34 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	34 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. R. Fairmaid, 33 Young Street, St Kilda
Folio	13/2094
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1913
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

13 February 1913

David Williams
Elizabeth Black

David Williams
Elizabeth Black
💍 1913/2757

Bachelor
Spinster

clicker

33 years
36 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

33 years
36 years

In the house of Mr A. Black, 82 Clyde Street, Dunedin

13/1703

13 February 1913

R. Waddell

No	87
Date of Notice	13 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Williams	Elizabeth Black
	💍 1913/2757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	clicker
Age	33 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	33 years	36 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr A. Black, 82 Clyde Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/1703
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1913
Officiating Minister	R. Waddell

14 February 1913

Thomas Richard Thorn
Carmen Laura Dinsell

Thomas Richard Thorn
Carman Laura Dinsell
💍 1913/2057

Bachelor
Spinster

moulder

25 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
1 year

In St Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin

13/1621

14 February 1913

J. P. Delany

No	88
Date of Notice	14 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Richard Thorn	Carmen Laura Dinsell
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Richard Thorn	Carman Laura Dinsell
	💍 1913/2057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	moulder
Age	25 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In St Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	13/1621
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1913
Officiating Minister	J. P. Delany

14 February 1913

James Oliver Matthewson
Barbara Ruth Brodrick

James Oliver Matthewson
Barbara Ruth Brodrick
💍 1913/2750

Bachelor
Spinster

accountant

31 years
29 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

31 years
29 years

In the house of Mr G. R. W. Bracken, 13 Council Street, St Kilda

13/1702

14 February 1913

R. Waddell

No	89
Date of Notice	14 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Oliver Matthewson	Barbara Ruth Brodrick
	💍 1913/2750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	accountant
Age	31 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	31 years	29 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr G. R. W. Bracken, 13 Council Street, St Kilda
Folio	13/1702
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1913
Officiating Minister	R. Waddell

15 February 1913

William Ernest Gollie Wharton
Beatrice Annie Wharton

William Ernest Collie
Beatrice Annie Wharton
💍 1913/2126

Bachelor
Spinster

fellmonger

21 years
18 years

Roslyn
Dunedin

12 months
6 years

In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/1519

H. G. Gould, father

15 February 1913

H. G. Gould

No	90
Date of Notice	15 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Gollie Wharton	Beatrice Annie Wharton
BDM Match (85%)	William Ernest Collie	Beatrice Annie Wharton
	💍 1913/2126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	fellmonger
Age	21 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 months	6 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/1519
Consent	H. G. Gould, father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

14 February 1913

Alexander Lang McPhail
Christina Middleton McPhail

Alexander Sang
Christina Middleton McPhail
💍 1913/2164

Bachelor
Spinster

marine engineer

27 years
34 years

West Harbour
West Harbour

3 months
10 years

In the house of Mr Duncan McPhail, Montague Street, West Harbour

13/1630

14 February 1913

A. Gray

No	91
Date of Notice	14 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Lang McPhail	Christina Middleton McPhail
BDM Match (80%)	Alexander Sang	Christina Middleton McPhail
	💍 1913/2164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	marine engineer
Age	27 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	West Harbour	West Harbour
Length of Residence	3 months	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Duncan McPhail, Montague Street, West Harbour
Folio	13/1630
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1913
Officiating Minister	A. Gray

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).