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 2939

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar C. H. Connell

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

754

29 December 1919

Boyd Alexander Bennie
Annie Elizabeth McLeod

Boyd Alexander Bennie
Annie Elizabeth McLeod
💍 1920/2595

Bachelor
Widow 3:6:14

Miner

26
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

House of W. Bennie, 5 Nile Street, St Kilda

33/1920

29 December 1919

Rev. R. Fairmaid (Presbyterian)

No	754
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Boyd Alexander Bennie	Annie Elizabeth McLeod
	💍 1920/2595
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 3:6:14
Profession	Miner
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of W. Bennie, 5 Nile Street, St Kilda
Folio	33/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fairmaid (Presbyterian)

755

29 December 1919

George Richard William Barnes
Margarita Eileen Esmeralda Helm

George Richard William Barnes
Mapurita Eileen Esmeralda Helm
💍 1920/2596

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 days
9 days

Presbyterian Church, St Kilda

34/1920

Albert William Helm (Father)

29 December 1919

Rev. J. Miller (Presbyterian)

No	755
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Richard William Barnes	Margarita Eileen Esmeralda Helm
BDM Match (95%)	George Richard William Barnes	Mapurita Eileen Esmeralda Helm
	💍 1920/2596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 days	9 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, St Kilda
Folio	34/1920
Consent	Albert William Helm (Father)
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Miller (Presbyterian)

756

30 December 1919

Fred Tombs
Alice Faulkner

Fred Tombs
Alice Faulkner
💍 1919/8132

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Painter

25
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 years
3 years

Salvation Army Citadel, Dowling Street, Dunedin

2750

30 December 1919

Capt. H. M. McKenzie (Salvation Army)

No	756
Date of Notice	30 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Tombs	Alice Faulkner
	💍 1919/8132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Painter
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Citadel, Dowling Street, Dunedin
Folio	2750
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Capt. H. M. McKenzie (Salvation Army)

757

30 December 1919

William Henry Needs
Clara Annie Rice

William Henry Needs
Clara Annie Rice
💍 1920/2576

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

38
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
30 years

House of Mrs. E. J. Rice, 63 Royal Crescent, St Kilda

38/1920

30 December 1919

Rev. A. Hopper (Methodist)

No	757
Date of Notice	30 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Needs	Clara Annie Rice
	💍 1920/2576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. E. J. Rice, 63 Royal Crescent, St Kilda
Folio	38/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hopper (Methodist)

758

30 December 1919

Henry James Thompson
Kate Sybil Smith

Henry James Thompson
Kate Sybil Smith
💍 1920/2573

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

27
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 days
14 years

Knox Church, Dunedin

35/1920

30 December 1919

Rev. J. Miller (Presbyterian)

No	758
Date of Notice	30 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Thompson	Kate Sybil Smith
	💍 1920/2573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	35/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Miller (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).