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 2510

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

12 January 1914

Henry Albert Sandom
Mabel Ellen Jones

Henry Albert Sandom
Mabel Ellen Jones
💍 1914/7988

Bachelor
Spinster

pastrycook

23
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

21 years
20 years

In the Congregational Church Moray Place Dunedin

1456

Jane Jones Mother

12 January 1914

W. Saunders

No	19
Date of Notice	12 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Albert Sandom	Mabel Ellen Jones
	💍 1914/7988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	pastrycook
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the Congregational Church Moray Place Dunedin
Folio	1456
Consent	Jane Jones Mother
Date of Certificate	12 January 1914
Officiating Minister	W. Saunders

13 January 1914

Richard James Mildenhall
Mary Ann Hill Cosgrove

Richard James Mildenhall
Mary Ann Hill Cosgrove
💍 1914/530

Bachelor
Spinster

labourer

23
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
1 year

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

220

13 January 1914

H. Maxwell

No	20
Date of Notice	13 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard James Mildenhall	Mary Ann Hill Cosgrove
	💍 1914/530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	labourer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	220
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

14 January 1914

William Webster
Mary Agnes McLean

William Webster
Mary Agnes McLean
💍 1914/8023

Bachelor
Spinster

tailor

34
24

Dunedin
Mornington

34 years
3 years

In the house of Mr W. H. McLean 43 Hawthorne Avenue Mornington

1538

14 January 1914

W. Scorgie

No	21
Date of Notice	14 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Webster	Mary Agnes McLean
	💍 1914/8023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	tailor
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	34 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr W. H. McLean 43 Hawthorne Avenue Mornington
Folio	1538
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1914
Officiating Minister	W. Scorgie

15 January 1914

Percy Harold King
Christina Scott

Percy Harold King
Christina Scott
💍 1914/7960

Bachelor
Spinster

marine officer

25
21

Dunedin
Mornington

3 days
15 years

In the house of Mr J. Scott 30 Queen Street Mornington

1451

15 January 1914

W. Scorgie

No	22
Date of Notice	15 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Harold King	Christina Scott
	💍 1914/7960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	marine officer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Mornington
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. Scott 30 Queen Street Mornington
Folio	1451
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1914
Officiating Minister	W. Scorgie

15 January 1914

George Mumford Griffiths
Catherine Weir

George Mumford Griffiths
Catherine Weir
💍 1914/531

Widower
Divorced

labourer

47
33

Dunedin
Dunedin

33 years
33 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

221

15 January 1914

H. Maxwell

No	23
Date of Notice	15 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Mumford Griffiths	Catherine Weir
	💍 1914/531
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	labourer
Age	47	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	33 years	33 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	221
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

16 January 1914

John Francis Partridge
Bertha Blanche McDougall

John Francis Partridge
Bertha Blanche McDougall
💍 1914/7959

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

26
18

Dunedin
St Kilda

10 days
2 weeks

In the house of Mr P. McDougall 78 Princes Street St Kilda

1450

Peter McDougall father

16 January 1914

R. S. Allan

No	24
Date of Notice	16 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Partridge	Bertha Blanche McDougall
	💍 1914/7959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	St Kilda
Length of Residence	10 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr P. McDougall 78 Princes Street St Kilda
Folio	1450
Consent	Peter McDougall father
Date of Certificate	16 January 1914
Officiating Minister	R. S. Allan

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).