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 2843

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

283

17 June 1919

James John Mair
Christina Campbell Russell

James John Mair
Christina Campbell Russell
💍 1919/2941

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

49
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
7 weeks

Residence of Mrs. Matthew Russell, 9 Grange Street, Dunedin

2799

17 June 1919

R. E. Davies, Presbyterian

No	283
Date of Notice	17 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James John Mair	Christina Campbell Russell
	💍 1919/2941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	49	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	7 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Matthew Russell, 9 Grange Street, Dunedin
Folio	2799
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1919
Officiating Minister	R. E. Davies, Presbyterian

284

17 June 1919

Richard Burtram Legge
Delia Hardwick

Richard Burtram Leggi
Delia Hardwick
💍 1919/2942

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
26

Green Island
Green Island

1 week
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, South Dunedin

2800

17 June 1919

J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

No	284
Date of Notice	17 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Burtram Legge	Delia Hardwick
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Burtram Leggi	Delia Hardwick
	💍 1919/2942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	1 week	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, South Dunedin
Folio	2800
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1919
Officiating Minister	J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

285

18 June 1919

Alfred William Madden
Elise Rattigan Thomson

Alfred William Madden
Elsie Rattigan Thomson
💍 1919/3000

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

32
39

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
30 years

First Church, Dunedin

2801

F. G. Cummings, Presbyterian

No	285
Date of Notice	18 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Madden	Elise Rattigan Thomson
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred William Madden	Elsie Rattigan Thomson
	💍 1919/3000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	32	39
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	30 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Dunedin
Folio	2801
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	F. G. Cummings, Presbyterian

286

19 June 1919

Edward William Holmes
Ivy Lydia Aston

Edward William Holmes
Ivy Lydia Aston
💍 1919/3011

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

19
17

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 years
14 years

Residence of Mrs. E. S. Aston, 227 Rattray Street, Dunedin

2802

M. T. Holmes (mother); E. S. Aston (mother)

19 June 1919

C. Eaton, Methodist

No	286
Date of Notice	19 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward William Holmes	Ivy Lydia Aston
	💍 1919/3011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. E. S. Aston, 227 Rattray Street, Dunedin
Folio	2802
Consent	M. T. Holmes (mother); E. S. Aston (mother)
Date of Certificate	19 June 1919
Officiating Minister	C. Eaton, Methodist

287

19 June 1919

William James Wakelin
Elizabeth Sutherland Cunningham

William James Wakelin
Elizabeth Sutherland Cunningham
💍 1919/3018

Widower
Spinster

Iron moulder

55
49

Dunedin
Dunedin

40 years
8 years

Residence of D. H. Cunningham, Elgin Road, Mornington, Dunedin

2803

19 June 1919

R. Robertson, Baptist

No	287
Date of Notice	19 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Wakelin	Elizabeth Sutherland Cunningham
	💍 1919/3018
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Iron moulder
Age	55	49
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	40 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of D. H. Cunningham, Elgin Road, Mornington, Dunedin
Folio	2803
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1919
Officiating Minister	R. Robertson, Baptist

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).