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 2529

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

143

25 March 1914

George Hubert Elder
Catherine Elizabeth Findlay

George Hubert Elder
Catherine Elizabeth Findlay
💍 1914/8148

Bachelor
Spinster

commercial traveller

38
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
35 years

In the First Church Dunedin

1714

25 March 1914

J. C. Jamieson

No	143
Date of Notice	25 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hubert Elder	Catherine Elizabeth Findlay
	💍 1914/8148
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	commercial traveller
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	35 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church Dunedin
Folio	1714
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1914
Officiating Minister	J. C. Jamieson

144

25 March 1914

Malcolm Murdoch
Ethel Te Marama Cooke Waldie

Malcolm Murdoch
Ethel Te Marama Cooke Waldie
💍 1914/8946

Bachelor
Spinster

plumber

31
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 years
16 years

In the Octagon Hall Octagon Dunedin

4016

Naomi Waldie mother

25 March 1914

F. T. Read

No	144
Date of Notice	25 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Murdoch	Ethel Te Marama Cooke Waldie
	💍 1914/8946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	plumber
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the Octagon Hall Octagon Dunedin
Folio	4016
Consent	Naomi Waldie mother
Date of Certificate	25 March 1914
Officiating Minister	F. T. Read

145

25 March 1914

Herbert Ernest Bennett
Mabel Elizabeth Hymen

Herbert Ernest Bennett
Mabel Elizabeth Hymen
💍 1914/8147

Bachelor
Spinster

salesman

20
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

15 months
20 years

In the house of the Rev. R. Fairmaid 33 Young Street St Kilda

1713

Joseph Shepherd Bennett father, David Alexander Hymen father

25 March 1914

R. Fairmaid

No	145
Date of Notice	25 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Ernest Bennett	Mabel Elizabeth Hymen
	💍 1914/8147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	salesman
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 months	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. R. Fairmaid 33 Young Street St Kilda
Folio	1713
Consent	Joseph Shepherd Bennett father, David Alexander Hymen father
Date of Certificate	25 March 1914
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

146

26 March 1914

Trevor Charles Tisdall
Eliza Williams

Trevor Charles Tisdall
Eliza Williams
💍 1914/546

Bachelor
Widow

farmer

32
39

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 months
6 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

237

26 March 1914

W. E. Gladstone

No	146
Date of Notice	26 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Trevor Charles Tisdall	Eliza Williams
	💍 1914/546
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	farmer
Age	32	39
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	6 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	237
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1914
Officiating Minister	W. E. Gladstone

147

26 March 1914

James Thompson Sutherland
Maggie Jane Brown

James Thompson Sutherland
Maggie Jane Brown
💍 1914/8962

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

39
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
4 months

In Knox Church Dunedin

4008

26 March 1914

R. E. Davies

No	147
Date of Notice	26 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thompson Sutherland	Maggie Jane Brown
	💍 1914/8962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	39	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	4008
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1914
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

148

27 March 1914

Richard Dennis Trounce
Eliza Mary Sinfield Aburn

Richard Dennis Trounce
Eliza Mary Linfield Aburn
💍 1914/8149

Widower
Spinster

craneman

60
47

Dunedin
Dunedin

35 years
40 years

In the house of Mr E. A. G. Aburn 417 Cumberland Street Dunedin

1715

27 March 1914

P. D. McCallum

No	148
Date of Notice	27 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Dennis Trounce	Eliza Mary Sinfield Aburn
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Dennis Trounce	Eliza Mary Linfield Aburn
	💍 1914/8149
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	craneman
Age	60	47
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	35 years	40 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr E. A. G. Aburn 417 Cumberland Street Dunedin
Folio	1715
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1914
Officiating Minister	P. D. McCallum

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).