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 478

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

21 February '.1913.'

William Henry Halford
Daphne Irene Alberta Preston

William Henry Halford
Daphne Irene Alberta Preston
💍 1913/2065

Bachelor
Spinster

sailmaker

22 years
21 years

Mornington
Dunedin

22 years
11 years

In the Congregational Church, Moray Place, Dunedin

13/1606

21 February '.1913.'

W. Saunders

No	99
Date of Notice	21 February '.1913.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Halford	Daphne Irene Alberta Preston
	💍 1913/2065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	sailmaker
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	11 years
Marriage Place	In the Congregational Church, Moray Place, Dunedin
Folio	13/1606
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February '.1913.'
Officiating Minister	W. Saunders

100

22 February '.1913.'

Joseph Lawson Robinson
Emmeline Martha Miller

Joseph Lawson Robinson
Emmeline Martha Miller
💍 1913/1745

Bachelor
Spinster

clergyman

30 years
28 years

Dunedin
Wellington

7 years
8 years

In the Congregational Church, Courtenay Place, Wellington

13/1209

22 February '.1913.'

A. L. Macdonald Aspland

No	100
Date of Notice	22 February '.1913.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Lawson Robinson	Emmeline Martha Miller
	💍 1913/1745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	clergyman
Age	30 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the Congregational Church, Courtenay Place, Wellington
Folio	13/1209
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February '.1913.'
Officiating Minister	A. L. Macdonald Aspland

101

22 February '.1913.'

George Payne
Johanna Halpin

George Payne
Johanna Halpin
💍 1913/2187

Bachelor
Spinster

warehouseman

32 years
31 years

Mornington
Mornington

2 years
3 days

In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/1653

22 February '.1913.'

D. Buckley

No	101
Date of Notice	22 February '.1913.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Payne	Johanna Halpin
	💍 1913/2187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	warehouseman
Age	32 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/1653
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February '.1913.'
Officiating Minister	D. Buckley

102

22 February '.1913.'

James Deans
Lillian Holdsworth

James Deans
Lillian Holdsworth
💍 1913/2178

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

28 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
10 years

In St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin

13/1668

22 February '.1913.'

W. Curzon Siggers

No	102
Date of Notice	22 February '.1913.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Deans	Lillian Holdsworth
	💍 1913/2178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	In St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	13/1668
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February '.1913.'
Officiating Minister	W. Curzon Siggers

103

22 February '.1913.'

Charles Edmund Brocket
Frances Lillian Sibbald

Charles Edmund Brocket
Frances Lilian Sibbald
💍 1913/2179

Bachelor
Spinster

customs officer

27 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
4 years

In St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin

13/1669

22 February '.1913.'

W. Curzon Siggers

No	103
Date of Notice	22 February '.1913.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edmund Brocket	Frances Lillian Sibbald
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Edmund Brocket	Frances Lilian Sibbald
	💍 1913/2179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	customs officer
Age	27 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	13/1669
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February '.1913.'
Officiating Minister	W. Curzon Siggers

104

22 February '.1913.'

James Cherrie Kirkwood
Caroline Elizabeth Browne

James Cherrie Kirkwood
Caroline Elizabeth Browne
💍 1913/339

Widower
Widow

lifter

35 years
35 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 years
3 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/221

22 February '.1913.'

H. Maxwell

No	104
Date of Notice	22 February '.1913.'
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cherrie Kirkwood	Caroline Elizabeth Browne
	💍 1913/339
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	lifter
Age	35 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/221
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February '.1913.'
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

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).