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 2841

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar 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

273

10 June 1919

William Dryden
Thelma Pretoria McDonald

William Dryden
Thelma Pretoria McDonald
💍 1919/2930

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

28
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

First Church Manse, Dunedin

2789

M. W. McDonald (father)

10 June 1919

G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

No	273
Date of Notice	10 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dryden	Thelma Pretoria McDonald
	💍 1919/2930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	First Church Manse, Dunedin
Folio	2789
Consent	M. W. McDonald (father)
Date of Certificate	10 June 1919
Officiating Minister	G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

274

10 June 1919

Bernard Pimley
Ellen Anthonetta Hall

Bernard Pimley
Ellen Anthonetta Hall
💍 1919/2931

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler maker

19
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

19 years
5 years

Catholic Church, Macandrew Road, South Dunedin

2790

J. Pimley (father), T. Hall (father)

10 June 1919

J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

No	274
Date of Notice	10 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Pimley	Ellen Anthonetta Hall
	💍 1919/2931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler maker
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	19 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Macandrew Road, South Dunedin
Folio	2790
Consent	J. Pimley (father), T. Hall (father)
Date of Certificate	10 June 1919
Officiating Minister	J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

275

11 June 1919

George Alexander Findlay
Mabel Lilian Westland

George Alexander Findlay
Mabel Lilian Westland
💍 1919/2932

Widower 5 July 1909
Spinster

Warehouseman

49
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

29 years
27 years

St. Matthews Church, Dunedin

2791

11 June 1919

W. Curzon-Siggers, Church of England

No	275
Date of Notice	11 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alexander Findlay	Mabel Lilian Westland
	💍 1919/2932
Condition	Widower 5 July 1909	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	49	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	29 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Dunedin
Folio	2791
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Curzon-Siggers, Church of England

276

13 June 1919

David Christie
Hilda Jane Elizabeth Nelson

David Christie
Hilda Jane Elizabeth Nelson
💍 1919/2933

Bachelor
Spinster

Furniture manufacturer

29
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 1/2 years
30 years

At the residence of Mr. J. S. Nelson, 6 Farley Street, Roslyn

2792

13 June 1919

R. R. M. Sutherland, Presbyterian

No	276
Date of Notice	13 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Christie	Hilda Jane Elizabeth Nelson
	💍 1919/2933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Furniture manufacturer
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 1/2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. J. S. Nelson, 6 Farley Street, Roslyn
Folio	2792
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1919
Officiating Minister	R. R. M. Sutherland, Presbyterian

277

14 June 1919

Thomas Ayson Robinson
Margaret Gillies Scott

Thomas Ayson Robinson
Margaret Gillies Scott
💍 1919/2934

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 days
6 days

Knox Church, Dunedin

2793

14 June 1919

R. E. Davies, Presbyterian

No	277
Date of Notice	14 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ayson Robinson	Margaret Gillies Scott
	💍 1919/2934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	2793
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1919
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies, 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).