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 2514

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

29 January 1914

William Jeffrey
Ethel Mary Devinney

William Jeffrey
Ethel Mary Devinney
💍 1914/532

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

37
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

37 years
1 year

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

222

29 January 1914

H. Maxwell

No	44
Date of Notice	29 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jeffrey	Ethel Mary Devinney
	💍 1914/532
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	37 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	222
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

29 January 1914

Robert Henry Millard
Violet Elizabeth Wilson Myers

Robert Henry Millard
Violet Elizabeth Wilson Myers
💍 1914/8033

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

27
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 years
23 years

In Trinity Methodist Church Stuart Street Dunedin

1547

29 January 1914

P. W. Fairclough

No	45
Date of Notice	29 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Millard	Violet Elizabeth Wilson Myers
	💍 1914/8033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In Trinity Methodist Church Stuart Street Dunedin
Folio	1547
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1914
Officiating Minister	P. W. Fairclough

30 January 1914

John McDonald
Florence Elliott

John McDonald
Florence Elliott
💍 1914/8066

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

57
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
1 week

In the Manse Tea Rooms - 63 George Street Dunedin

1557

30 January 1914

R. Fairmaid

No	46
Date of Notice	30 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McDonald	Florence Elliott
	💍 1914/8066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	57	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	In the Manse Tea Rooms - 63 George Street Dunedin
Folio	1557
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1914
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

30 January 1914

Harold Eric Luscombe
Isabella Gault

Harold Eric Luscombe
Isabella Gault
💍 1914/8036

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

25
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 years
28 years

In the Presbyterian Church South Dunedin

1550

30 January 1914

R. Fairmaid

No	47
Date of Notice	30 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Eric Luscombe	Isabella Gault
	💍 1914/8036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 years	28 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church South Dunedin
Folio	1550
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1914
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

31 January 1914

Richard James Vickers
Alexandrina Adam

Richard James Vickers
Alexandrina Adam
💍 1914/8065

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

29
23

Mornington
Mornington

5 months
23 years

In the house of Mr Adam, Gladstone Street, Mornington

1556

31 January 1914

T. W. Vealie

No	48
Date of Notice	31 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard James Vickers	Alexandrina Adam
	💍 1914/8065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	5 months	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Adam, Gladstone Street, Mornington
Folio	1556
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1914
Officiating Minister	T. W. Vealie

31 January 1914

John James Frew
Maida Emmeline Dalton

John James Frew
Maida Emmeline Dalton
💍 1914/8026

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

27
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

27 years
3 years

In Knox Church Dunedin

1541

31 January 1914

R. E. Davies

No	49
Date of Notice	31 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Frew	Maida Emmeline Dalton
	💍 1914/8026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	27 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	1541
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1914
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

31 January 1914

William Thornton Taylor
Dora Bull

William Thornton Taylor
Dora Bull
💍 1914/8034

Bachelor
Spinster

Chef
Nurse

35
30

Dunedin
Andersons Bay

3 days
6 weeks

In the house of Mr W Bull Anderson Bay

1548

31 January 1914

P. W. Fairclough

No	50
Date of Notice	31 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thornton Taylor	Dora Bull
	💍 1914/8034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chef	Nurse
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Andersons Bay
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr W Bull Anderson Bay
Folio	1548
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1914
Officiating Minister	P. W. Fairclough

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).