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 2512

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

20 January 1914

James McKay McKelvie
Mary Barwell

James McKay McKelvie
Mary Barwell
💍 1914/8020

Bachelor
Spinster

boilermaker
dressmaker

27
21

St. Kilda
St. Kilda

1 year
5 years

In the house of Mr W. Barwell, 15 Grove Street, St Kilda

1535

20 January 1914

F. T. Read

No	31
Date of Notice	20 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McKay McKelvie	Mary Barwell
	💍 1914/8020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	boilermaker	dressmaker
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr W. Barwell, 15 Grove Street, St Kilda
Folio	1535
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1914
Officiating Minister	F. T. Read

20 January 1914

William David Lindsay Robertson
Doris Elizabeth Crosbie

William David Lindsay Robertson
Doris Elizabeth Crosbie
💍 1914/86

Bachelor
Spinster

letter-carrier

20
18

Dunedin
West Harbour

20 years
10 years

In the house of Mr George Crosbie, Ravensbourne, West Harbour

1539

Margaret Bell Richardson Mother, George Crosbie father

20 January 1914

H. L. Richards

No	32
Date of Notice	20 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William David Lindsay Robertson	Doris Elizabeth Crosbie
	💍 1914/86
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	letter-carrier
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	West Harbour
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr George Crosbie, Ravensbourne, West Harbour
Folio	1539
Consent	Margaret Bell Richardson Mother, George Crosbie father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1914
Officiating Minister	H. L. Richards

21 January 1914

Lance James Potter
Sylvia Jamieson

Lance James Potter
Sylvia Jamieson
💍 1914/8029

Bachelor
Spinster

dentist

24
23

Dunedin
Maori Hill

6 years
6 years

In the Presbyterian Church, Maori Hill

1544

21 January 1914

R. E. Davies

No	33
Date of Notice	21 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lance James Potter	Sylvia Jamieson
	💍 1914/8029
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	dentist
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church, Maori Hill
Folio	1544
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1914
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies

21 January 1914

Cecil Purvis
Fanny Ellen Brown

Cecil Purvis
Fanny Ellen Brown
💍 1914/8025

Bachelor
Spinster

draper

23
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 years
24 years

In the Church of Christ, Great King Street, Dunedin

1540

21 January 1914

P. D. McCallum

No	34
Date of Notice	21 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Purvis	Fanny Ellen Brown
	💍 1914/8025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	draper
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of Christ, Great King Street, Dunedin
Folio	1540
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1914
Officiating Minister	P. D. McCallum

23 January 1914

Alexander Todd Robertson
Tui Rere Morna Whyte

Alexander Todd Robertson
Tui Rere Morua Whyte
💍 1914/8031

Bachelor
Spinster

clerk

24
25

Mornington
West Harbour

14 years
15 years

In the First Church Manse, Dunedin

1545

23 January 1914

G. H. Balfour

No	35
Date of Notice	23 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Todd Robertson	Tui Rere Morna Whyte
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Todd Robertson	Tui Rere Morua Whyte
	💍 1914/8031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	clerk
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Mornington	West Harbour
Length of Residence	14 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the First Church Manse, Dunedin
Folio	1545
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1914
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

23 January 1914

Thomas William Knox
Eva Martha Catherine Duncan

Thomas William Knox
Eva Martha Catherine Duncan
💍 1914/8110

Bachelor
Spinster

plumber

29
27

Dunedin
Maori Hill

29 years
10 years

In the Methodist Church Hall, Leith Road, Maori Hill

1674

23 January 1914

J. R. McIntyre

No	36
Date of Notice	23 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Knox	Eva Martha Catherine Duncan
	💍 1914/8110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	plumber
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	29 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church Hall, Leith Road, Maori Hill
Folio	1674
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1914
Officiating Minister	J. R. McIntyre

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).