Intentions to Marry, 1916 Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840468, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1916 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1916f contains pages 2397-3014, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands

Page 2536

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1916 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

17 January 1916

Edward James Whitaker
Lilian Mabel Finch

Edward James Whitaker
Lilian Mabel Finch
💍 1916/5257

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator
Dressmaker

24
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

24 years
10 years

House of C. Finch, 32 Grange Street, Dunedin

2622

Catherine Finch, Mother

17 January 1916

C. Eaton

No	23
Date of Notice	17 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Whitaker	Lilian Mabel Finch
	💍 1916/5257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator	Dressmaker
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	24 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of C. Finch, 32 Grange Street, Dunedin
Folio	2622
Consent	Catherine Finch, Mother
Date of Certificate	17 January 1916
Officiating Minister	C. Eaton

17 January 1916

David Oscar Gray
Margaret Wright

David Oscar Gray
Margaret Wright
💍 1916/4732

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
20

Dunedin
Green Island

24 years
10 years

Rata Tea-rooms, 89 Stuart St., Dunedin

2065

Annie Wright, Mother

17 January 1916

G. H. Balfour

No	24
Date of Notice	17 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Oscar Gray	Margaret Wright
	💍 1916/4732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Green Island
Length of Residence	24 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Rata Tea-rooms, 89 Stuart St., Dunedin
Folio	2065
Consent	Annie Wright, Mother
Date of Certificate	17 January 1916
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour

19 January 1916

Albert Sydney Drayton
Leah Beaton Tomkinson

Albert Sydney Drayton
Leah Beaton Tomkinson
💍 1916/4733

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

25
22

Dunedin
West Harbour

3 days
22 years

First Church, Dunedin

2066

19 January 1916

Andrew Gray

No	25
Date of Notice	19 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Sydney Drayton	Leah Beaton Tomkinson
	💍 1916/4733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	West Harbour
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Dunedin
Folio	2066
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Andrew Gray

19 January 1916

William Marsland Uttley
Eleanor Grace Martin

William Marsland Uttley
Eleanor Grace Martin
💍 1916/4734

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Typist

32
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
11 months

Congregational Church, St. Clair, Caversham

2067

19 January 1916

W. G. Ashford

No	26
Date of Notice	19 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Marsland Uttley	Eleanor Grace Martin
	💍 1916/4734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Typist
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	11 months
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, St. Clair, Caversham
Folio	2067
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1916
Officiating Minister	W. G. Ashford

20 January 1916

John Gittens
Violet Louisa Behan

John Gittens
Violet Louisa Behan
💍 1916/446

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

1037

20 January 1916

H. Maxwell

No	27
Date of Notice	20 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gittens	Violet Louisa Behan
	💍 1916/446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	1037
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1916
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell

21 January 1916

Richard Victor McGarrigle
Marion Thomson Hill

Richard Victor McGarrigle
Marion Thomson Hill
💍 1916/4735

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Dressmaker

28
33

St. Kilda
Dunedin

28 years
30 years

House of Mr. J. Hill, 16 Reid Road, South Dunedin

2068

21 January 1916

R. Fairmaid

No	28
Date of Notice	21 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Victor McGarrigle	Marion Thomson Hill
	💍 1916/4735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	28	33
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	30 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. Hill, 16 Reid Road, South Dunedin
Folio	2068
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1916
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid

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).