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 488

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

160

14 March 1913

Stephen Edward Jeffery
Marion Eloie Charnley

Stephen Edward Jeffery
Marion Elsie Charnley
💍 1913/2067

Bachelor
Spinster

commercial traveller

24
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
24 years

In All Saints Church Dunedin

13/1608

14 March 1913

A. R. Fitchett

No	160
Date of Notice	14 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Edward Jeffery	Marion Eloie Charnley
BDM Match (98%)	Stephen Edward Jeffery	Marion Elsie Charnley
	💍 1913/2067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	commercial traveller
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church Dunedin
Folio	13/1608
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1913
Officiating Minister	A. R. Fitchett

161

14 March 1913

Errol Albert Peters
Gladys Edna Mitchell

Errol Albert Peters
Gladys Edna Mitchell
💍 1913/815

Bachelor
Spinster

marine officer

21
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
1 month

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/228

14 March 1913

H. Maxwell

No	161
Date of Notice	14 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Errol Albert Peters	Gladys Edna Mitchell
	💍 1913/815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	marine officer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/228
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

162

14 March 1913

Edward Bandy Loudon
Florence Violet Chidson

Edward Bardy
Florence Violet Chidson Loudon
💍 1913/2216

Bachelor
Spinster

clergyman

31
33

Green Island
Dunedin

4 years
3 days

In the Primitive Methodist Church Dundas Street Dunedin

13/1682

14 March 1913

E. Drake

No	162
Date of Notice	14 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bandy Loudon	Florence Violet Chidson
BDM Match (67%)	Edward Bardy	Florence Violet Chidson Loudon
	💍 1913/2216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	clergyman
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Primitive Methodist Church Dundas Street Dunedin
Folio	13/1682
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1913
Officiating Minister	E. Drake

163

14 March 1913

Gilbert Alexander Gillies
Alice Burfield Miller

Gilbert Alexander Gillies
Alice Burfield Miller
💍 1913/2577

Bachelor
Divorced

machinist

31
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
3 years

In the house of Mrs J. Galland 24 Chambers Street North East Valley

13/2121

14 March 1913

R. E. Davies

No	163
Date of Notice	14 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Alexander Gillies	Alice Burfield Miller
	💍 1913/2577
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	machinist
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs J. Galland 24 Chambers Street North East Valley
Folio	13/2121
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1913
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

164

14 March 1913

William Henry Cole
Ethel May Scanlan

William Henry Cole
Ethel May Scanlan
💍 1913/2189

Bachelor
Spinster

storeman

24
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
20 years

In St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin

13/1655

John Walsh, guardian

14 March 1913

D. Buckley

No	164
Date of Notice	14 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Cole	Ethel May Scanlan
	💍 1913/2189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	storeman
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In St Joseph's Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	13/1655
Consent	John Walsh, guardian
Date of Certificate	14 March 1913
Officiating Minister	D. Buckley

165

14 March 1913

William Edward John Earl
Mary Emily Edith Williams

William Edward John Earl
Mary Emily Edith Williams
💍 1913/821

Bachelor
Spinster

steward

24
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 months
5 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

13/229

Mary Ann Town, mother

14 March 1913

H. Maxwell

No	165
Date of Notice	14 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward John Earl	Mary Emily Edith Williams
	💍 1913/821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	steward
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 months	5 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	13/229
Consent	Mary Ann Town, mother
Date of Certificate	14 March 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).