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 2550

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

263

30 April 1914

Edwin Mountney
Lily Seaman

Edwin Mountney
Lily Seaman
💍 1914/6316

Bachelor
Spinster

brass moulder

22
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 month
4 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

3853

30 April 1914

H. Maxwell

No	263
Date of Notice	30 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Mountney	Lily Seaman
	💍 1914/6316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	brass moulder
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 month	4 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	3853
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

264

30 April 1914

John Morton Richmond
Isabella Campbell Goodlet

John Morton Richmond
Isabella Campbell Goodlet
💍 1914/9252

Bachelor
Spinster

bootmaker

26
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
5 years

In the house of Mrs. Goodlet 59 King Edward Street Caversham

4321

30 April 1914

R. Fairmaid

No	264
Date of Notice	30 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morton Richmond	Isabella Campbell Goodlet
	💍 1914/9252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	bootmaker
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Goodlet 59 King Edward Street Caversham
Folio	4321
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1914
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

265

1 May 1914

William Wright
Euphemia Strachan

William Wright
Euphemia Strachan
💍 1914/872

Bachelor
Spinster

carpenter

30
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
7 years

In the house of Mr. W. Milne 13 Tyne Street Roslyn

4512

1 May 1914

R. R. M. Sutherland

No	265
Date of Notice	1 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wright	Euphemia Strachan
	💍 1914/872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	carpenter
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. W. Milne 13 Tyne Street Roslyn
Folio	4512
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1914
Officiating Minister	R. R. M. Sutherland

266

2 May 1914

Harold Ernest Wellbourn
Victoria Robertson

Harold Ernest Wellbourn
Victoria Robertson
💍 1914/6432

Bachelor
Spinster

painter

21
17

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 months
17 years

In the house of Mr. W. H. Wellbourn Chambers Street North East Valley

3968

George Robertson father

2 May 1914

H. L. Richards

No	266
Date of Notice	2 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Ernest Wellbourn	Victoria Robertson
	💍 1914/6432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	painter
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	17 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. W. H. Wellbourn Chambers Street North East Valley
Folio	3968
Consent	George Robertson father
Date of Certificate	2 May 1914
Officiating Minister	H. L. Richards

267

4 May 1914

Robert Brown Bell
Dorothy Alice Bradley

Robert Brown Bell
Dorothy Alice Bradley
💍 1914/6417

Bachelor
Spinster

newspaper manager

25
24

Ashburton
Dunedin

13 years
24 years

In All Saints Church Dunedin

3879

4 May 1914

A. R. Fitchett

No	267
Date of Notice	4 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Brown Bell	Dorothy Alice Bradley
	💍 1914/6417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	newspaper manager
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church Dunedin
Folio	3879
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1914
Officiating Minister	A. R. Fitchett

268

4 May 1914

Francis Lancelot Alston
Agnes Quinn

Francis Lancelot Alston
Agnes Quinn
💍 1914/6317

Bachelor
Spinster

tea planter

24
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

3854

4 May 1914

H. Maxwell

No	268
Date of Notice	4 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Lancelot Alston	Agnes Quinn
	💍 1914/6317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	tea planter
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	3854
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 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).