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 2893

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar H. 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

524

20 October 1919

Richard Grenfell Charles Thomas Paul
Ethel Isabel Wallington

Richard Grenfell Charles Thomas Paul
Ethel Isabel Wallington
💍 1919/9730

Bachelor
Spinster

Hospital Attendant

27
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 1/4 years
11 years

Presbyterian Manse, Young Street, St Kilda

9523

20 October 1919

Rev. R. Fairmaid (Presbyterian)

No	524
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Grenfell Charles Thomas Paul	Ethel Isabel Wallington
	💍 1919/9730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hospital Attendant
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 1/4 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Young Street, St Kilda
Folio	9523
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fairmaid (Presbyterian)

525

20 October 1919

Samuel Mitchell
Elizabeth McKay Mitchell

Samuel Mitchell
Elizabeth McKay Mitchell
💍 1919/7939

Divorced Decree absolute 28:11:06
Widow 10:5:16

Labourer

57
54

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
2 days

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

7540

20 October 1919

A. R. Kennedy Registrar

No	525
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Mitchell	Elizabeth McKay Mitchell
	💍 1919/7939
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 28:11:06	Widow 10:5:16
Profession	Labourer
Age	57	54
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	7540
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	A. R. Kennedy Registrar

526

20 October 1919

Percy Randolph Bond
Winifred Catherine Ruth Seal

Percy Randolph Bond
Winifred Catherine Ruth Seal
💍 1919/7940

Bachelor
Spinster

Locomotive Fireman

25
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 years
18 years

Baptist Church, Caversham

7541

20 October 1919

Rev. R. S. Stewart (Baptist)

No	526
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Randolph Bond	Winifred Catherine Ruth Seal
	💍 1919/7940
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Locomotive Fireman
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Caversham
Folio	7541
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. S. Stewart (Baptist)

527

20 October 1919

Henry Crawford
Charlotte Mary Jones

Henry Crawford
Charlotte Mary Jones
💍 1919/7941

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
5 years

Holy Cross Church, St Kilda

7542

20 October 1919

Rev. A. Wingfield (Church of England)

No	527
Date of Notice	20 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Crawford	Charlotte Mary Jones
	💍 1919/7941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Holy Cross Church, St Kilda
Folio	7542
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Wingfield (Church of England)

528

21 October 1919

James McAusland
Katherine Halley Jefferson

James McAusland
Catherine Halley Jefferson
💍 1919/7942

Bachelor
Spinster

Milk factory condenser

29
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
3 weeks

St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

7543

21 October 1919

Archdeacon W. A. R. Fitchett (Church of England)

No	528
Date of Notice	21 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McAusland	Katherine Halley Jefferson
BDM Match (98%)	James McAusland	Catherine Halley Jefferson
	💍 1919/7942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Milk factory condenser
Age	29	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	7543
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon W. A. R. Fitchett (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).