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 475

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

12 February 1913

Charles James Honeybone
Christina Walker

Charles James Honeybone
Christina Walker
💍 1913/2196

James Drysdale
Christina Walker
💍 1913/6299

George Nesbitt
Christina Walker
💍 1913/3924

Bachelor
Spinster

grocer

24
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
7 years

In the house of the Rev. W. Saunders, Albany Street, Dunedin

13/1686

12 February 1913

W. Saunders

No	80
Date of Notice	12 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles James Honeybone	Christina Walker
	💍 1913/2196
BDM Match (65%)	James Drysdale	Christina Walker
	💍 1913/6299
BDM Match (63%)	George Nesbitt	Christina Walker
	💍 1913/3924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	grocer
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. W. Saunders, Albany Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/1686
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1913
Officiating Minister	W. Saunders

12 February 1913

David Joseph Timlin Fisher
Evelyn Grace McCutcheon

David Joseph Fisher Timlin
Evelyn Grace McCutcheon
💍 1913/2165

Bachelor
Spinster

machinist

25
22

West Harbour
West Harbour

10 years
4 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Ravensbourne

13/1631

12 February 1913

A. Gray

No	81
Date of Notice	12 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Joseph Timlin Fisher	Evelyn Grace McCutcheon
BDM Match (81%)	David Joseph Fisher Timlin	Evelyn Grace McCutcheon
	💍 1913/2165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	machinist
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	West Harbour	West Harbour
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Ravensbourne
Folio	13/1631
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1913
Officiating Minister	A. Gray

13 February 1913

Robert Nichol
Clara Edith Wilson

Robert Nichol
Clara Edith Wilson
💍 1913/2571

Robert Mitchell
Elizabeth Wilson
💍 1913/8961

Bachelor
Spinster

solicitor

33
36

Anderson's Bay
Dunedin

33 years
36 years

In Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin

13/2116

13 February 1913

E. G. Guthrie

No	82
Date of Notice	13 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Nichol	Clara Edith Wilson
	💍 1913/2571
BDM Match (67%)	Robert Mitchell	Elizabeth Wilson
	💍 1913/8961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	solicitor
Age	33	36
Dwelling Place	Anderson's Bay	Dunedin
Length of Residence	33 years	36 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	13/2116
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1913
Officiating Minister	E. G. Guthrie

13 February 1913

Robert Sutherland Pratt
Annie Elizabeth Pratt

Robert Sutherland
Annie Elizabeth Pratt
💍 1913/2762

Bachelor
Spinster

barman

38
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
1 year

In the house of Rev. J. W. Newbold, 516 Cumberland Street, Dunedin

13/1708

13 February 1913

J. W. Newbold

No	83
Date of Notice	13 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Sutherland Pratt	Annie Elizabeth Pratt
BDM Match (87%)	Robert Sutherland	Annie Elizabeth Pratt
	💍 1913/2762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	barman
Age	38	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. J. W. Newbold, 516 Cumberland Street, Dunedin
Folio	13/1708
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1913
Officiating Minister	J. W. Newbold

13 February 1913

William James Corkran
Amendia Gabrielle Gorham

William James Cockram
Amendia Gabrielle Gorham
💍 1913/2058

Bachelor
Spinster

presser

24
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
12 years

In St. Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin

13/1622

13 February 1913

J. P. Delany

No	84
Date of Notice	13 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Corkran	Amendia Gabrielle Gorham
BDM Match (95%)	William James Cockram	Amendia Gabrielle Gorham
	💍 1913/2058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	presser
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In St. Patrick's Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	13/1622
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1913
Officiating Minister	J. P. Delany

13 February 1913

Joseph Saunders
Ellen Saunders Stanley

Not heard of wife as alive for seventeen years last past
Not heard of husband as alive for twenty-five years last past

labourer

54
55

Dunedin
Dunedin

16 years
16 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

13/2109

13 February 1913

H. Maxwell

No	85
Date of Notice	13 February 1913
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Saunders	Ellen Saunders Stanley
Condition	Not heard of wife as alive for seventeen years last past	Not heard of husband as alive for twenty-five years last past
Profession	labourer
Age	54	55
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	16 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	13/2109
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 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).