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 862

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1913

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

19 March 1913

Harold James Gilmour
Jessie Helen Black

Harold James Gilmour
Jessie Helen Clark
💍 1913/2288

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

28
22

Makarewa, Roslyn, Invercargill
Roslyn Bush, Invercargill

16 months
22 years

St. Clair

13/1805

14 March 1913

Rev. G. Cumming

No	43
Date of Notice	19 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold James Gilmour	Jessie Helen Black
BDM Match (94%)	Harold James Gilmour	Jessie Helen Clark
	💍 1913/2288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Makarewa, Roslyn, Invercargill	Roslyn Bush, Invercargill
Length of Residence	16 months	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Clair
Folio	13/1805
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Cumming

19 March 1913

James Sinclair Young
Elizabeth Catherine McMillan

James Sinclair Young
Elizabeth Gutherie McQuilkan
💍 1913/2280

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

27
21

Clifton, Invercargill
Princes St., Invercargill

27 years
7 years

Redeemer

13/1802

19 March 1913

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	44
Date of Notice	19 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sinclair Young	Elizabeth Catherine McMillan
BDM Match (89%)	James Sinclair Young	Elizabeth Gutherie McQuilkan
	💍 1913/2280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Clifton, Invercargill	Princes St., Invercargill
Length of Residence	27 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Redeemer
Folio	13/1802
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

20 March 1913

Louis Elizabeth Lemon
Robert Moffett Wilson

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic

21
22

Aman St., Invercargill
Aman St., Invercargill

11 months
10 months

Catholic Church, Tyne St.

13/2012

20 March 1913

Rev. W. Burke

No	45
Date of Notice	20 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Elizabeth Lemon	Robert Moffett Wilson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Aman St., Invercargill	Aman St., Invercargill
Length of Residence	11 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Tyne St.
Folio	13/2012
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Burke

23 March 1913

Joseph Burton Suckling
Alice Martha Lush

Joseph Bunton Suckling
Alice Martha Cusher
💍 1913/2307

Bachelor
Spinster

Millwright
Hospital Nurse

32
28

Parton St., Invercargill
Elles Road, Invercargill

30 years
27 years

Methodist Church

13/1798

23 March 1913

Rev. T. A. Pepers

No	46
Date of Notice	23 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Burton Suckling	Alice Martha Lush
BDM Match (90%)	Joseph Bunton Suckling	Alice Martha Cusher
	💍 1913/2307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millwright	Hospital Nurse
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Parton St., Invercargill	Elles Road, Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	13/1798
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. A. Pepers

23 March 1913

Gavin Stalliburton
Maud Chalmers

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic

27
22

Clyde St., Invercargill
Clyde St., Invercargill

3 years
22 years

Residence of James Shaw

13/1817

23 March 1913

Rev. J. W. Shaw

No	47
Date of Notice	23 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gavin Stalliburton	Maud Chalmers
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Clyde St., Invercargill	Clyde St., Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Shaw
Folio	13/1817
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Shaw

25 March 1913

Valentine Newall
Winifred Agatha Harney

Valentene Newall
Winifred Agatha Kaveney
💍 1913/2446

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Domestic

28
21

Orinoco Road, Invercargill
Burke St., Invercargill

15 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St.

13/2013

25 March 1913

Rev. W. Burke

No	48
Date of Notice	25 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Valentine Newall	Winifred Agatha Harney
BDM Match (90%)	Valentene Newall	Winifred Agatha Kaveney
	💍 1913/2446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Domestic
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Orinoco Road, Invercargill	Burke St., Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St.
Folio	13/2013
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1913
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Burke

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).