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 485

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 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

141

10 March 1913

George Johnston
Ethel Mary Wilson

George Johnston
Ethel Mary Wilson
💍 1913/4843

Bachelor
Spinster

pattern weaver

30
29

Roslyn
Roslyn

13 years
2 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Church Street, Roslyn

13/4402

10 March 1913

R. R. M. Sutherland

No	141
Date of Notice	10 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Johnston	Ethel Mary Wilson
	💍 1913/4843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	pattern weaver
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	13 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Church Street, Roslyn
Folio	13/4402
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1913
Officiating Minister	R. R. M. Sutherland

142

10 March 1913

Arthur Stanley Moody
Ina Burnman

Arthur Stanley Moody
Ina Burnman Dugleley
💍 1913/2210

Bachelor
Spinster

medical practitioner
medical practitioner

23
27

Outram
Dunedin

1 year
4 days

In St. Mary's Church, Mornington

13/1699

10 March 1913

A. Neild

No	142
Date of Notice	10 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Stanley Moody	Ina Burnman
BDM Match (78%)	Arthur Stanley Moody	Ina Burnman Dugleley
	💍 1913/2210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	medical practitioner	medical practitioner
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Outram	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	4 days
Marriage Place	In St. Mary's Church, Mornington
Folio	13/1699
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1913
Officiating Minister	A. Neild

143

10 March 1913

Henry Alfred Scott
Lydia Richardson

Henry Alfred Scott
Lydia Richardson
💍 1913/2150

Bachelor
Spinster

butcher

21
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

21 years
1 year

In the Baptist Church, Main South Road, Caversham

13/1640

10 March 1913

C. Dallaston

No	143
Date of Notice	10 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alfred Scott	Lydia Richardson
	💍 1913/2150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	butcher
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	21 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Baptist Church, Main South Road, Caversham
Folio	13/1640
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1913
Officiating Minister	C. Dallaston

144

11 March 1913

Robert Walter Edgar Tait
Elizabeth Drummond Tait

Robert Walter Edgar
Elizabeth Tait Drummond
💍 1913/2162

Bachelor
Spinster

medical practitioner

29
26

Dunedin
Anderson's Bay

3 days
1 year

In the First Church, Dunedin

13/1628

11 March 1913

G. H. Balfour

No	144
Date of Notice	11 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Walter Edgar Tait	Elizabeth Drummond Tait
BDM Match (68%)	Robert Walter Edgar	Elizabeth Tait Drummond
	💍 1913/2162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	medical practitioner
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Anderson's Bay
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	In the First Church, Dunedin
Folio	13/1628
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1913
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

145

11 March 1913

Henry James Hall
Bertha Slater

Henry James Hall
Bertha Slater
💍 1913/2052

Bachelor
Spinster

carpenter

29
26

Mornington
Dunedin

29 years
26 years

In the Methodist Church, Mornington

13/1616

11 March 1913

J. W. Vealie

No	145
Date of Notice	11 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Hall	Bertha Slater
	💍 1913/2052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carpenter
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	29 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church, Mornington
Folio	13/1616
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1913
Officiating Minister	J. W. Vealie

146

11 March 1913

George Binns Blamires
Maude Vigers

George Binns Blamires
Maude Vigers
💍 1913/804

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

28
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
4 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/227

11 March 1913

H. Maxwell

No	146
Date of Notice	11 March 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Binns Blamires	Maude Vigers
	💍 1913/804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/227
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 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).