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 543

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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

479

29 August 1913

Earl Andrew Richardson
Annie Louisa Stirling

Earl Andrew Richardson
Annie Louisa Stirling
💍 1913/6235

Bachelor
Spinster

hairdresser

22
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
6 months

In the Presbyterian Church, Queen's Drive, St Kilda

13/15946

29 August 1913

R. S. Allan

No	479
Date of Notice	29 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Earl Andrew Richardson	Annie Louisa Stirling
	💍 1913/6235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	hairdresser
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Queen's Drive, St Kilda
Folio	13/15946
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1913
Officiating Minister	R. S. Allan

480

30 August 1913

David Murdie Anderson
Maud Emily Mitchell

David Murdie Anderson
Maud Emily Mitchell
💍 1913/5024

Widower
Spinster

labourer

43
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

43 years
14 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/4700

30 August 1913

H. Maxwell

No	480
Date of Notice	30 August 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Murdie Anderson	Maud Emily Mitchell
	💍 1913/5024
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	43	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	43 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/4700
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

481

1 September 1913

Spencer Fitton Sandes
Annie Esther Tansey

Spencer Filton Sandes
Annie Esther Tansey
💍 1913/6646

Bachelor
Spinster

commission agent

30
27

Dunedin
St Kilda

13 years
2 months

In St Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin

13/6332

1 September 1913

J. Liston

No	481
Date of Notice	1 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Spencer Fitton Sandes	Annie Esther Tansey
BDM Match (98%)	Spencer Filton Sandes	Annie Esther Tansey
	💍 1913/6646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	commission agent
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	St Kilda
Length of Residence	13 years	2 months
Marriage Place	In St Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	13/6332
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1913
Officiating Minister	J. Liston

482

1 September 1913

Frederick John Matthews
Susannah Josephine Frew

Frederick John Matthews
Susannah Josephine Frew
💍 1913/8835

Bachelor
Spinster

ironmoulder

31
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

17 years
31 years

In Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin

8339

1 September 1913

R. E. Davies

No	482
Date of Notice	1 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Matthews	Susannah Josephine Frew
	💍 1913/8835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	ironmoulder
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	17 years	31 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	8339
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1913
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

483

2 September 1913

Gordon Dransfield
Ethel Arawa Greenslade

Gordon Deansfield
Ethel Arawa Greenslade
💍 1913/6121

Bachelor
Spinster

bank manager

52
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
29 years

In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/5776

2 September 1913

H. G. Gould

No	483
Date of Notice	2 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Dransfield	Ethel Arawa Greenslade
BDM Match (97%)	Gordon Deansfield	Ethel Arawa Greenslade
	💍 1913/6121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	bank manager
Age	52	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	29 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/5776
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1913
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

484

3 September 1913

John Mann
Alexandria Ann Grieve Milne

John Mann
Alexandria Ann Grieve Milne
💍 1913/5053

Bachelor
Spinster

bookseller

33
26

Roslyn
Dunedin

5 weeks
5 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/4701

3 September 1913

H. Maxwell

No	484
Date of Notice	3 September 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mann	Alexandria Ann Grieve Milne
	💍 1913/5053
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	bookseller
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 weeks	5 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/4701
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 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).