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 2543

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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

220

13 April 1914

Murray Gladstone Thomson
Mabel Ruth Newton

Murray Gladstone Thomson
Mabel Ruth Newton
💍 1914/9249

Bachelor
Spinster

bookseller

34
25

St Kilda
St Kilda

30 years
3 days

In the Presbyterian Church South Dunedin

4321

13 April 1914

R. Fairmaid

No	220
Date of Notice	13 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murray Gladstone Thomson	Mabel Ruth Newton
	💍 1914/9249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	bookseller
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	St Kilda
Length of Residence	30 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church South Dunedin
Folio	4321
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1914
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

221

13 April 1914

Thomas James Holland
Mary Elizabeth Gibbons

Thomas James Holland
Mary Elizabeth Gibbons
💍 1914/1060

Bachelor
Spinster

land agent

26
21

Green Island
Green Island

3 days
2 weeks

In St Patrick's Basilica South Dunedin

4701

13 April 1914

J. P. Delany

No	221
Date of Notice	13 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Holland	Mary Elizabeth Gibbons
	💍 1914/1060
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	land agent
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	In St Patrick's Basilica South Dunedin
Folio	4701
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1914
Officiating Minister	J. P. Delany

222

14 April 1914

Edward Maurice Payne
Janet Derbie

Edward Maurice Payne
Janet Derbie
💍 1914/8951

Bachelor
Spinster

cabinet-maker

32
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
3 days

In the First Church Dunedin

4020

14 April 1914

S. Q. Orr

No	222
Date of Notice	14 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Maurice Payne	Janet Derbie
	💍 1914/8951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	cabinet-maker
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	3 days
Marriage Place	In the First Church Dunedin
Folio	4020
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	S. Q. Orr

223

14 April 1914

Edward Cropp
Emma Priscilla Le Brunn

Edward Cropp
Emma Priscilla Le Brun
💍 1914/9078

Bachelor
Spinster

cabinet maker

37
40

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
40 years

In St Paul's Cathedral Dunedin

4147

14 April 1914

H. G. Gould

No	223
Date of Notice	14 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Cropp	Emma Priscilla Le Brunn
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Cropp	Emma Priscilla Le Brun
	💍 1914/9078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	cabinet maker
Age	37	40
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	40 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Cathedral Dunedin
Folio	4147
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gould

224

14 April 1914

Harry George Allen
Lilian Agatha Goding

Harry George Allen
Lilian Agatha Goding
💍 1914/8986

Bachelor
Spinster

warehouseman

27
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

27 years
20 years

In St Joseph's Cathedral Vestry Dunedin

4033

Bridget Goding mother

14 April 1914

W. Corcoran

No	224
Date of Notice	14 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry George Allen	Lilian Agatha Goding
	💍 1914/8986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	warehouseman
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In St Joseph's Cathedral Vestry Dunedin
Folio	4033
Consent	Bridget Goding mother
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	W. Corcoran

225

14 April 1914

Joseph Francis Aitken
Robina Hurndell

Joseph Francis Aitken
Robina Hurndell
💍 1914/8981

Bachelor
Spinster

waiter

24
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
6 years

In the house of the Rev. E. A. Axelsen 6 View Street Dunedin

4028

14 April 1914

E. A. Axelsen

No	225
Date of Notice	14 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Francis Aitken	Robina Hurndell
	💍 1914/8981
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	waiter
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. E. A. Axelsen 6 View Street Dunedin
Folio	4028
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	E. A. Axelsen

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).