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 2525

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

119

14 March 1914

Matthew Howell
Minnie Ackroyd

Matthew Howell
Minnie Ackroyd
💍 1914/8168

Bachelor
Spinster

piano tuner

28
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

25 years
30 years

In Trinity Methodist Church Stuart Street Dunedin

1710

14 March 1914

P. W. Fairclough

No	119
Date of Notice	14 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Howell	Minnie Ackroyd
	💍 1914/8168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	piano tuner
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	30 years
Marriage Place	In Trinity Methodist Church Stuart Street Dunedin
Folio	1710
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1914
Officiating Minister	P. W. Fairclough

120

14 March 1914

William Henry Smart
Alice Lily Wright

William Henry Smart
Alice Lily Wright
💍 1914/9359

Widower
Spinster

engineer

53
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

25 years
15 years

In the house of Mr D. H. Wright 15 Marion Street Caversham

4329

14 March 1914

R. Fairmaid

No	120
Date of Notice	14 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Smart	Alice Lily Wright
	💍 1914/9359
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	engineer
Age	53	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr D. H. Wright 15 Marion Street Caversham
Folio	4329
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1914
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

121

16 March 1914

Dryden Rowan
Jeanie Douglas Mitchell

Dryden Rowan
Jeanie Douglas Mitchell
💍 1914/8943

Bachelor
Spinster

mechanic

25
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the Waratah Tea Rooms 63 George Street Dunedin

4013

16 March 1914

J. Aitken

No	121
Date of Notice	16 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dryden Rowan	Jeanie Douglas Mitchell
	💍 1914/8943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	mechanic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Waratah Tea Rooms 63 George Street Dunedin
Folio	4013
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1914
Officiating Minister	J. Aitken

122

16 March 1914

George Everett Hards
Frances Mary Gleeson

George Everett Hards
Frances Mary Gleeson
💍 1914/8136

Bachelor
Spinster

chemist

27
26

St Kilda
Dunedin

5 days
10 weeks

In the Bungalow Tea Rooms Victoria Road St Kilda

1700

16 March 1914

R. Fairmaid

No	122
Date of Notice	16 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Everett Hards	Frances Mary Gleeson
	💍 1914/8136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	chemist
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	10 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Bungalow Tea Rooms Victoria Road St Kilda
Folio	1700
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1914
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

123

16 March 1914

William James Paterson McCulloch
Mina Stewart Spiers

William James Paterson McCulloch
Mina Stewart Spiers
💍 1914/8155

Bachelor
Spinster

importer

30
23

West Harbour
Dunedin

30 years
23 years

In the First Church Dunedin

1702

16 March 1914

G. H. Balfour

No	123
Date of Notice	16 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Paterson McCulloch	Mina Stewart Spiers
	💍 1914/8155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	importer
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	West Harbour	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church Dunedin
Folio	1702
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1914
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

124

16 March 1914

Robert Robertson
Margaret Neill

Robert Robertson
Margaret Neill
💍 1914/6223

Bachelor
Widow

labourer

35
34

Green Island
Green Island

10 days
10 days

In Miss Mendelsohn's and Mrs Emanuel's Tea Rooms Octagon Dunedin

3726

16 March 1914

W. Spence

No	124
Date of Notice	16 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Robertson	Margaret Neill
	💍 1914/6223
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	labourer
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	In Miss Mendelsohn's and Mrs Emanuel's Tea Rooms Octagon Dunedin
Folio	3726
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1914
Officiating Minister	W. Spence

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).