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 522

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

357

9 June 1913

Francis David Reid
Catherine Marguerite McDonald

Francis David Reid
Catherine Marguerite McDonald
💍 1913/4304

Bachelor
Spinster

railway porter

27
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

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

13/3830

9 June 1913

R. S. Allan

No	357
Date of Notice	9 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis David Reid	Catherine Marguerite McDonald
	💍 1913/4304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	railway porter
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Queen's Drive, St Kilda
Folio	13/3830
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1913
Officiating Minister	R. S. Allan

358

9 June 1913

Peter McNaughton
Elizabeth Ann Calder

Peter McNaughton
Elizabeth Ann Calder
💍 1913/4381

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

28
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
35 years

In the First Church, Dunedin

13/3858

9 June 1913

G. H. Balfour

No	358
Date of Notice	9 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter McNaughton	Elizabeth Ann Calder
	💍 1913/4381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	28	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	35 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	13/3858
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1913
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

359

9 June 1913

Frank Hoar
Lillian Maud Kathleen Robinson

Frank Hoar
Lillian Maud Kathleen Robinson
💍 1913/4472

Bachelor
Spinster

butcher

26
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

23 years
2 years

In the house of the Rev. D. Dutton, Marion Street, Caversham

13/4096

William John Robinson, father

9 June 1913

D. Dutton

No	359
Date of Notice	9 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Hoar	Lillian Maud Kathleen Robinson
	💍 1913/4472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	butcher
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. D. Dutton, Marion Street, Caversham
Folio	13/4096
Consent	William John Robinson, father
Date of Certificate	9 June 1913
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton

360

9 June 1913

Thomas Dyer Guthrie
Winifred Agnes Higgins

Thomas Dyer Guthrie
Winifred Agnes Higgins
💍 1913/519

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

29
15

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/2349

John Higgins, father

9 June 1913

H. Maxwell

No	360
Date of Notice	9 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Dyer Guthrie	Winifred Agnes Higgins
	💍 1913/519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	29	15
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/2349
Consent	John Higgins, father
Date of Certificate	9 June 1913
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

361

10 June 1913

John Howrie Tolmie
Louisa Agnes Still

John Hourie Tolmie
Louisa Agnes Still
💍 1913/4250

Bachelor
Spinster

traveller
machinist

25
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
19 years

In Knox Church Manse, Dunedin

13/3799

10 June 1913

R. E. Davies

No	361
Date of Notice	10 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Howrie Tolmie	Louisa Agnes Still
BDM Match (97%)	John Hourie Tolmie	Louisa Agnes Still
	💍 1913/4250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	traveller	machinist
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Manse, Dunedin
Folio	13/3799
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1913
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

362

11 June 1913

Thomas Stirling Shaw
Ethel Eileen Park

Thomas Stirling Shaw
Ethel Eileen Park
💍 1913/4362

Bachelor
Spinster

clerk
typiste

27
25

Mornington
Dunedin

3 days
25 years

In the house of W. J. A. Park, 23 Manor Place, Dunedin

13/3863

11 June 1913

J. Chisholm

No	362
Date of Notice	11 June 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stirling Shaw	Ethel Eileen Park
	💍 1913/4362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	clerk	typiste
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In the house of W. J. A. Park, 23 Manor Place, Dunedin
Folio	13/3863
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1913
Officiating Minister	J. Chisholm

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).