Intentions to Marry, 1918 Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840480, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 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.

1918f contains pages 2189-2777, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Page 2331

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar W. W. 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

8 March 1918

William Thomas
Florence Alice Murray Pearce

William Thomas
Florence Alice Murray Pearce
💍 1918/424

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine engineer

29
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 weeks
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Queens Drive, St. Kilda.

782

8 March 1918

R.S. Allan, Presbyterian.

No	61
Date of Notice	8 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas	Florence Alice Murray Pearce
	💍 1918/424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine engineer
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Queens Drive, St. Kilda.
Folio	782
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1918
Officiating Minister	R.S. Allan, Presbyterian.

9 March 1918

Herbert Adam Cunningham
Doris Emma Beckingsale

Herbert Adam Cunningham
Doris Emma Peckingsale
💍 1918/425

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

25
22

Masterton
Dunedin

12 years
3 days

Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin.

783

9 March 1918

R.S. Gray, Baptist.

No	62
Date of Notice	9 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Adam Cunningham	Doris Emma Beckingsale
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Adam Cunningham	Doris Emma Peckingsale
	💍 1918/425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Hanover Street, Dunedin.
Folio	783
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1918
Officiating Minister	R.S. Gray, Baptist.

12 March 1918

Joseph Robinson
Elizabeth Cathcart Horsburgh

Joseph Robinson
Elizabeth Cathcart Horsburgh
💍 1918/426

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

25
24

St. Kilda
Dunedin

2 years
14 years

First Church, Dunedin

784

12 March 1918

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian.

No	63
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Robinson	Elizabeth Cathcart Horsburgh
	💍 1918/426
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Dunedin
Folio	784
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian.

12 March 1918

John Daniel Murdoch McShain
May Dixon

John Daniel Murdoch McShain
May Dixon
💍 1918/403

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical engineer

30
23

St. Kilda
Dunedin

14 years
15 years

Baptist Church, Roslyn

785

12 March 1918

C. Dallaston, Baptist.

No	64
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Daniel Murdoch McShain	May Dixon
	💍 1918/403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical engineer
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Roslyn
Folio	785
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	C. Dallaston, Baptist.

12 March 1918

Andrew Clifford Brown
Ellen Elizabeth Bradley

Andrew Clifford Brown
Ellen Elizabeth Bradley
💍 1918/404

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor salesman

20
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
13 years

Salvation Army Hall, Dowling Street, Dunedin

786

Andrew Brown (Father)

12 March 1918

A.E. Colvin, Salvation Army.

No	65
Date of Notice	12 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Clifford Brown	Ellen Elizabeth Bradley
	💍 1918/404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor salesman
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Dowling Street, Dunedin
Folio	786
Consent	Andrew Brown (Father)
Date of Certificate	12 March 1918
Officiating Minister	A.E. Colvin, Salvation Army.

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).