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 523

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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

363

11 June 1913

James Doherty
Maria Hay

James Doherty
Maria Hay
💍 1913/520

Widower
Widow

retired

46
65

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
9 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/2350

11 June 1913

H. Maxwell

No	363
Date of Notice	11 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Doherty	Maria Hay
	💍 1913/520
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	retired
Age	46	65
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	9 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/2350
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

364

13 June 1913

Harold Arthur Taylor
Elizabeth Smith Godby

Harold Arthur Taylor
Elizabeth Smith Godby
💍 1913/528

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

24
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
24 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/2351

13 June 1913

H. Maxwell

No	364
Date of Notice	13 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Arthur Taylor	Elizabeth Smith Godby
	💍 1913/528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/2351
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

365

14 June 1913

Archibald George Cecil Napier
Margaret Mitchell

Archibald George Cecil Napier
Margaret Mitchell
💍 1913/4289

Bachelor
Widow

manager

33
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
35 years

In the First Church Manse

13/3889

14 June 1913

G. H. Balfour

No	365
Date of Notice	14 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald George Cecil Napier	Margaret Mitchell
	💍 1913/4289
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	manager
Age	33	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	35 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church Manse
Folio	13/3889
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1913
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

366

16 June 1913

Alexander Coutts Simpson McArthur
Annie Elizabeth Simpson McArthur

Alexnader Coutts
Annie Elizabeth Simpson McArthur
💍 1913/4586

Bachelor
Spinster

printer

26
25

Anderson's Bay
Dunedin

3 years
25 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Opoho, North East Valley

13/3887

16 June 1913

H. B. Gray

No	366
Date of Notice	16 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Coutts Simpson McArthur	Annie Elizabeth Simpson McArthur
BDM Match (71%)	Alexnader Coutts	Annie Elizabeth Simpson McArthur
	💍 1913/4586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	printer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Anderson's Bay	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Opoho, North East Valley
Folio	13/3887
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1913
Officiating Minister	H. B. Gray

367

16 June 1913

Walter Mayne Perry
Elsie Ada West

Walter Mayne Perry
Elsie Ada West
💍 1913/4512

Bachelor
Spinster

carter

24
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
20 years

In the house of Mr. A. Ward, 252 High Street, Dunedin

13/4164

16 June 1913

P. W. Fairclough

No	367
Date of Notice	16 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Mayne Perry	Elsie Ada West
	💍 1913/4512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carter
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. A. Ward, 252 High Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/4164
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1913
Officiating Minister	P. W. Fairclough

368

17 June 1913

Frank Gilbert Penny
Emma Martha Bruce

Frank Gilbert Penny
Emma Martha Bruce
💍 1913/5485

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

22
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
3 years

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

13/4467

John Bruce, father

17 June 1913

R. Fairmaid

No	368
Date of Notice	17 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Gilbert Penny	Emma Martha Bruce
	💍 1913/5485
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. R. Fairmaid, 33 Young Street, St. Kilda
Folio	13/4467
Consent	John Bruce, father
Date of Certificate	17 June 1913
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

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).