Intentions to Marry, 1919 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840486, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919f contains pages 2521-2942, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2689

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar J. McKittrick

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

102

3 September 1919

Frank Kirkby
Mary Ellen Margaret Aitken

Frank Kirkby
Mary Ellen Margaret Aitken
💍 1919/6821

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

21
24

Otaio
St Andrews

2 years
6 months

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

6306

3 September 1919

Rev E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	102
Date of Notice	3 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Kirkby	Mary Ellen Margaret Aitken
	💍 1919/6821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Otaio	St Andrews
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	6306
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

103

4 September 1919

Henry Alfred Scott
Beatrice Ann Aitken

Henry Alfred Scott
Beatrice Ann Aitken
💍 1919/6822

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

20
22

Timaru
Timaru

5 years
12 years

Residence of Mrs A Aitken, Wai-iti Road, Timaru

6307

Alfred Scott (Father)

4 September 1919

Rev E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	103
Date of Notice	4 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alfred Scott	Beatrice Ann Aitken
	💍 1919/6822
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs A Aitken, Wai-iti Road, Timaru
Folio	6307
Consent	Alfred Scott (Father)
Date of Certificate	4 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

104

10 September 1919

James Thomas Humphris
Ruth Inwood

James Thomas Humphris
Ruth Inwood
💍 1919/6823

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Domestic

28
20

Washdyke
Washdyke

12 years
7 years

Registrar's Office, Timaru

6308

Leonard Inwood (Father)

10 September 1919

J. McKittrick, Registrar

No	104
Date of Notice	10 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomas Humphris	Ruth Inwood
	💍 1919/6823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Washdyke	Washdyke
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	6308
Consent	Leonard Inwood (Father)
Date of Certificate	10 September 1919
Officiating Minister	J. McKittrick, Registrar

105

10 September 1919

Edward John Brock
Olive Maria Pritchard Ronson

Edward John Brock
Olive Maria Pritchard Ronson
💍 1919/5143

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

26
24

Timaru
Christchurch

1 year
17 years

St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

4412

10 September 1919

Rev W. S. Bean, Church of England

No	105
Date of Notice	10 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Brock	Olive Maria Pritchard Ronson
	💍 1919/5143
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	17 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	4412
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev W. S. Bean, Church of England

106

10 September 1919

Nicholas Hocking Williams
Margaret Drinnan

Nicholas Hocking Williams
Margaret Drinnan
💍 1919/6824

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

37
31

Sherwood Downs
St Andrews

1 year
Lifetime

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

6309

10 September 1919

Rev F. J. Usher, Presbyterian

No	106
Date of Notice	10 September 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas Hocking Williams	Margaret Drinnan
	💍 1919/6824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	31
Dwelling Place	Sherwood Downs	St Andrews
Length of Residence	1 year	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	6309
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev F. J. Usher, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).