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 2336

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

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

25 March 1918

Harold Hunsworth Burrow
Rose May Aitchison

Harold Hunsworth Burrow
Rose May Aitchison
💍 1918/1166

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic

26
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 years
4 years

House of Mr. W. H. Burrow, 34 Norfolk Street, St. Clair.

805

25 March 1918

I. Sarginson, Congregational.

No	86
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Hunsworth Burrow	Rose May Aitchison
	💍 1918/1166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. W. H. Burrow, 34 Norfolk Street, St. Clair.
Folio	805
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	I. Sarginson, Congregational.

25 March 1918

Arthur Reginald Colbourne Baber
Clara Agnes Templeton

Arthur Reginald Colbourne Baber
Clara Agnes Templeton
💍 1918/1167

Bachelor
Widow 22/7/13

Steward

37
46

Dunedin
Dunedin

37 years
30 years

Office of Registrar Dunedin.

806

25 March 1918

H. Maxwell, Acting Registrar.

No	87
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Reginald Colbourne Baber	Clara Agnes Templeton
	💍 1918/1167
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 22/7/13
Profession	Steward
Age	37	46
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	37 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar Dunedin.
Folio	806
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell, Acting Registrar.

25 March 1918

William Oliver Biggar
Ellen Leslie

William Olwer Biggar
Ellen Leslie
💍 1918/1168

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

28
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
34 years

St. Pauls pro-Cathedral Dunedin.

807

25 March 1918

E. R. Nevill, Church of England.

No	88
Date of Notice	25 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Oliver Biggar	Ellen Leslie
BDM Match (95%)	William Olwer Biggar	Ellen Leslie
	💍 1918/1168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	28	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	34 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls pro-Cathedral Dunedin.
Folio	807
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1918
Officiating Minister	E. R. Nevill, Church of England.

26 March 1918

Alfred Hay
Frances Collier Curline

Alfred Hay
Frances Collier Curline
💍 1918/2009

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Tailoress

23
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
22 years

Knox Church Dunedin.

1522

26 March 1918

R. E. Davies, Presbyterian.

No	89
Date of Notice	26 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hay	Frances Collier Curline
	💍 1918/2009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Tailoress
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Dunedin.
Folio	1522
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1918
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies, Presbyterian.

26 March 1918

William Jarman
Martha Gertrude Simms

William Jarman
Martha Gertrude Simms
💍 1918/1169

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot clicker

25
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
4 years

St. Peters Church Caversham.

808

26 March 1918

J. L. Mortimer, Church of England.

No	90
Date of Notice	26 March 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jarman	Martha Gertrude Simms
	💍 1918/1169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot clicker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church Caversham.
Folio	808
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1918
Officiating Minister	J. L. Mortimer, Church of England.

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).