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 2699

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar Leslie G. Bruce

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

146

9 December 1919

Arthur Wright
Irene Brown

Arthur Wright
Irene Brown
💍 1919/9476

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

30
26

Timaru
Timaru

9 years
26 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church Timaru

9241

9 December 1919

Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	146
Date of Notice	9 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Wright	Irene Brown
	💍 1919/9476
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	9 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church Timaru
Folio	9241
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

147

10 December 1919

Robert Ernest Lamond
Lilian Frances Hasselberg

Robert Ernest Lamond
Lilian Frances Hasselberg
💍 1919/9477

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

29
26

Timaru
Timaru

6 months
26 years

St. Marys Anglican Church Timaru

9242

10 December 1919

Ven. Archdeacon J. A. Jacob, Anglican

No	147
Date of Notice	10 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Ernest Lamond	Lilian Frances Hasselberg
	💍 1919/9477
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 months	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Anglican Church Timaru
Folio	9242
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon J. A. Jacob, Anglican

148

13 December 1919

Mathew Murray
Ada Magdalena Seyb

Mathew Murray
Ada Magdalena Seyb
💍 1919/9478

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse-Trainer
Dressmaker

33
28

Washdyke, Timaru
Washdyke, Timaru

3 days
28 years

Residence Geo Seyb Jun 114 Wilson Street Timaru

9243

13 December 1919

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	148
Date of Notice	13 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mathew Murray	Ada Magdalena Seyb
	💍 1919/9478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse-Trainer	Dressmaker
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Washdyke, Timaru	Washdyke, Timaru
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence Geo Seyb Jun 114 Wilson Street Timaru
Folio	9243
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

149

15 December 1919

Thomas Stanley Jenkins Harrow
Margaret Mary Murray

Thomas Stanley Jenkins Harrow
Margaret Mary Murray
💍 1919/9480

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman
Typiste

33
23

Timaru
Timaru

6 years
9 years

Chalmers Church, Timaru

9244

15 December 1919

Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	149
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stanley Jenkins Harrow	Margaret Mary Murray
	💍 1919/9480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman	Typiste
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Church, Timaru
Folio	9244
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

150

15 December 1919

Henry Gendles
Helen Elizabeth Cuthbert

Henry Sendles
Helen Elizabeth Cuthbert
💍 1919/9481

Divorced 31-8-18
Widow 19-5-16

Groom-Gardener
Domestic

54
40

Timaru
Timaru

4 days
9 months

Highfield Manse Timaru

9245

15 December 1919

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	150
Date of Notice	15 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gendles	Helen Elizabeth Cuthbert
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Sendles	Helen Elizabeth Cuthbert
	💍 1919/9481
Condition	Divorced 31-8-18	Widow 19-5-16
Profession	Groom-Gardener	Domestic
Age	54	40
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	9 months
Marriage Place	Highfield Manse Timaru
Folio	9245
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

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).