Intentions to Marry, 1914 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840456, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1914 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1914a), Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1914b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1914c).

Page 2521

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1914 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

24 February 1914

John Herbert Philp
Alice Hurn

John Herbert Philp
Alice Hurn
💍 1914/8057

Bachelor
Spinster

metal worker

26
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

26 years
25 years

In the Church of England Anderson's Bay

1571

24 February 1914

G. Fynes-Clinton

No	95
Date of Notice	24 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Herbert Philp	Alice Hurn
	💍 1914/8057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	metal worker
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	26 years	25 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England Anderson's Bay
Folio	1571
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1914
Officiating Minister	G. Fynes-Clinton

26 February 1914

William Edward Brown
Catherine Keir Stratton

William Edward Brown
Catherine Keir Stratton
💍 1914/8058

Bachelor
Spinster

steward
stewardess

36
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
12 days

In Knox Church Vestry Dunedin

1572

26 February 1914

R. E. Davies

No	96
Date of Notice	26 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Brown	Catherine Keir Stratton
	💍 1914/8058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	steward	stewardess
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	12 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Vestry Dunedin
Folio	1572
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1914
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

26 February 1914

Ernest Stanley Talbot
Bessie Rowena Sibbald

Ernest Stanley Talbot
Bessie Rowena Sibbald
💍 1914/7543

Bachelor
Spinster

bridgeman

29
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
6 years

In St Paul's Cathedral Dunedin

1581

26 February 1914

H. G. Gould

No	97
Date of Notice	26 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Stanley Talbot	Bessie Rowena Sibbald
	💍 1914/7543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	bridgeman
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	1581
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1914
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

26 February 1914

Harold Gordon Marshall
Dorothy Jane McIntyre

Harold Gordon Marshall
Dorothy Jane McIntyre
💍 1914/7540

Bachelor
Spinster

salesman

27
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
21 years

In the First Church Manse Dunedin

1578

26 February 1914

G. H. Balfour

No	98
Date of Notice	26 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Gordon Marshall	Dorothy Jane McIntyre
	💍 1914/7540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	salesman
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church Manse Dunedin
Folio	1578
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1914
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

27 February 1914

Leonard Page
Maggie Ferguson Hosie

Leonard Page
Maggie Ferguson Hosie
💍 1914/8107

Bachelor
Spinster

salesman

30
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
3 months

In the house of Mr R Hosie 35 Main Road Roslyn

1671

27 February 1914

R. R. M. Sutherland

No	99
Date of Notice	27 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Page	Maggie Ferguson Hosie
	💍 1914/8107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	salesman
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr R Hosie 35 Main Road Roslyn
Folio	1671
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1914
Officiating Minister	R. R. M. Sutherland

100

27 February 1914

James Percival Rees
Mary Barbour Cunningham

James Percival Rees
Mary Barbour Cunningham
💍 1914/8129

Bachelor
Spinster

expressman
dressmaker

28
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 years
5 years

In the house of Mr A. Cunningham 49 Bradshaw Street South Dunedin

1694

Alexander Cunningham father

27 February 1914

R. Fairmaid

No	100
Date of Notice	27 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Percival Rees	Mary Barbour Cunningham
	💍 1914/8129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	expressman	dressmaker
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr A. Cunningham 49 Bradshaw Street South Dunedin
Folio	1694
Consent	Alexander Cunningham father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1914
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

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).