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 2556

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

299

29 May 1914

Thomas Little
Margaret Johnson

Thomas Little
Margaret Johnson
💍 1914/8918

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Board employee

49
35

Mornington
Mornington

10 months
35 years

In Knox Church Dunedin

3988

29 May 1914

F. G. Cumming

No	299
Date of Notice	29 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Little	Margaret Johnson
	💍 1914/8918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Board employee
Age	49	35
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	10 months	35 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	3988
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1914
Officiating Minister	F. G. Cumming

300

29 May 1914

Henry Lockwood Lamb
Sarah Louisa Berry

Henry Lockwood Lamb
Sarah Louise Berry
💍 1914/8934

Bachelor
Spinster

paper ruler

40
37

Mornington
Mornington

3 years
22 years

In the house of Mr M. Riddle 10 Clyde Street Mornington

3980

29 May 1914

W. Walker

No	300
Date of Notice	29 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lockwood Lamb	Sarah Louisa Berry
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Lockwood Lamb	Sarah Louise Berry
	💍 1914/8934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	paper ruler
Age	40	37
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr M. Riddle 10 Clyde Street Mornington
Folio	3980
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1914
Officiating Minister	W. Walker

301

29 May 1914

James Haig
Euphemia Grace Wallace

James Haig
Euphemia Grace Wallace
💍 1914/1059

Bachelor
Spinster

hatter

29
29

Mornington
Mornington

12 years
29 years

In St Mary's Church Mornington

4698

29 May 1914

E. L. Woodhouse

No	301
Date of Notice	29 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Haig	Euphemia Grace Wallace
	💍 1914/1059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	hatter
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	12 years	29 years
Marriage Place	In St Mary's Church Mornington
Folio	4698
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1914
Officiating Minister	E. L. Woodhouse

302

29 May 1914

Henry Matthew George Scott
Alice Ann Kroon

Henry Matthew George Scott
Alice Ann Kroon
💍 1914/6315

Bachelor
Spinster

carpenter

24
19

St Kilda
Dunedin

22 years
17 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

3875

Johannes Arnoldus Kroon father

29 May 1914

W. E. Gladstone

No	302
Date of Notice	29 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Matthew George Scott	Alice Ann Kroon
	💍 1914/6315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carpenter
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	3875
Consent	Johannes Arnoldus Kroon father
Date of Certificate	29 May 1914
Officiating Minister	W. E. Gladstone

303

1 June 1914

George Frederick Clulee
Mary Bayley

George Frederick Clulee
Mary Bayley
💍 1914/6300

Divorced
Widow

commercial traveller

36
44

Dunedin
Dunedin

34 years
40 years

Registrar's Office Dunedin

3861

1 June 1914

H. Maxwell

No	303
Date of Notice	1 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Clulee	Mary Bayley
	💍 1914/6300
Condition	Divorced	Widow
Profession	commercial traveller
Age	36	44
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	34 years	40 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Dunedin
Folio	3861
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

304

1 June 1914

Louis Edward Spedding
Ivy Myrtle Fountain

Louis Edward Spedding
Ivy Myrtle Fountain
💍 1914/8917

Bachelor
Spinster

sugar boiler

19
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

19 years
12 years

Knox Church Dunedin

3987

Louis Edward Spedding and Albert Otago Fountain fathers

1 June 1914

E. A. Axelsen

No	304
Date of Notice	1 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Edward Spedding	Ivy Myrtle Fountain
	💍 1914/8917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	sugar boiler
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	19 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	3987
Consent	Louis Edward Spedding and Albert Otago Fountain fathers
Date of Certificate	1 June 1914
Officiating Minister	E. A. Axelsen

305

1 June 1914

Joseph Shin
Clara Emily Burns

Joseph Shin
Clara Emily Burns
💍 1914/6301

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

24
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 months
14 months

Registrar's Office Dunedin

3862

A judicial declaration has been given by Justice Sim for the marriage to take place

1 June 1914

H. Maxwell

No	305
Date of Notice	1 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Shin	Clara Emily Burns
	💍 1914/6301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	14 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Dunedin
Folio	3862
Consent	A judicial declaration has been given by Justice Sim for the marriage to take place
Date of Certificate	1 June 1914
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).