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 530

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

400

9 July 1913

Reginald John Arkle Stirling
Catherine May Harriet Rutherford

Reginald John Arkle Stirling
Catherine May Harriet Rutherford
💍 1913/6020

Bachelor
Spinster

railway clerk

29
25

Dunedin
Roslyn

3 years
25 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Mornington

13/5750

9 July 1913

W. Scorgie

No	400
Date of Notice	9 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald John Arkle Stirling	Catherine May Harriet Rutherford
	💍 1913/6020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	railway clerk
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Roslyn
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Mornington
Folio	13/5750
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1913
Officiating Minister	W. Scorgie

401

10 July 1913

John Brenssell Maxwell
Mary Harden Maxwell

John Brenssell
Mary Harden Maxwell
💍 1913/5009

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

43
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/4686

10 July 1913

H. Maxwell

No	401
Date of Notice	10 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brenssell Maxwell	Mary Harden Maxwell
BDM Match (82%)	John Brenssell	Mary Harden Maxwell
	💍 1913/5009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	43	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/4686
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

402

10 July 1913

Herbert Freeman Wise
Lily Margaret Wise

Herbert Freeman
Lily Margaret Wise
💍 1913/6024

Bachelor
Spinster

builder
dressmaker

27
19

Roslyn
Dunedin

25 years
12 years

In St. Martin's Church, North East Valley

13/5757

Frank Henry Wise, father

10 July 1913

W. H. Roberts

No	402
Date of Notice	10 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Freeman Wise	Lily Margaret Wise
BDM Match (88%)	Herbert Freeman	Lily Margaret Wise
	💍 1913/6024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	builder	dressmaker
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In St. Martin's Church, North East Valley
Folio	13/5757
Consent	Frank Henry Wise, father
Date of Certificate	10 July 1913
Officiating Minister	W. H. Roberts

403

10 July 1913

Peter Grieve Dingwall
Mabel Roberts

Peter Grieve Dingwall
Mabel Roberts
💍 1913/5010

Bachelor
Spinster

draper

24
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
21 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/4687

10 July 1913

H. Maxwell

No	403
Date of Notice	10 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Grieve Dingwall	Mabel Roberts
	💍 1913/5010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	draper
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/4687
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

404

11 July 1913

William Jephson Frewen
Elizabeth Norah Josephine Frewen

William Jephson
Elizabeth Norah Josephine Frewer
💍 1913/6360

Bachelor
Spinster

linesman
waitress

21
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 years
6 years

In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

13/6146

11 July 1913

D. Buckley

No	404
Date of Notice	11 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jephson Frewen	Elizabeth Norah Josephine Frewen
BDM Match (83%)	William Jephson	Elizabeth Norah Josephine Frewer
	💍 1913/6360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	linesman	waitress
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	13/6146
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1913
Officiating Minister	D. Buckley

405

11 July 1913

John William Charles Clements
Jessie Maud Graham

John William Charles Clements
Jessie Maud Graham
💍 1913/6368

Bachelor
Spinster

carter

31
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

31 years
3 years

In the house of Mr. H. Winders, 38 Anderson Road, Roslyn

13/6154

11 July 1913

T. S. Kavanagh

No	405
Date of Notice	11 July 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Charles Clements	Jessie Maud Graham
	💍 1913/6368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carter
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	31 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. H. Winders, 38 Anderson Road, Roslyn
Folio	13/6154
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1913
Officiating Minister	T. S. Kavanagh

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).