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 2940

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar A. R. Kennedy

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

159

30 December 1919

William Beadle
Clara Stead Treacher

William Beadle
Clara Stead Treacher
💍 1919/8143

Bachelor
Widow (10:8:08)

Accountant

52
56

Dunedin
Dunedin

52 years
6 years

Presbyterian Manse, Highgate, Roslyn

7751

30 December 1919

Rev. W. G. Dixon (Presbyterian)

No	159
Date of Notice	30 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Beadle	Clara Stead Treacher
	💍 1919/8143
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (10:8:08)
Profession	Accountant
Age	52	56
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	52 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Highgate, Roslyn
Folio	7751
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Dixon (Presbyterian)

160

30 December 1919

Arthur Angus Gutsell
Ruth Elizabeth Bennig

Arthur Angus Gutsell
Ruth Elizabeth Hennig
💍 1919/8149

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 days
7 days

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

7752

Emil Bennig (Father)

30 December 1919

A. R. Kennedy, Registrar

No	160
Date of Notice	30 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Angus Gutsell	Ruth Elizabeth Bennig
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Angus Gutsell	Ruth Elizabeth Hennig
	💍 1919/8149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	7752
Consent	Emil Bennig (Father)
Date of Certificate	30 December 1919
Officiating Minister	A. R. Kennedy, Registrar

161

30 December 1919

Henry Stephen Reid
Alice Mary Shand

Henry Stephen Reid
Alice Mary Shand
💍 1920/2574

Widower (21:11:18)
Spinster

Land Salesman

35
43

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
7 years

House of Mrs. S. S. Shand, 9 Durham Street, Mornington

36/1920

30 December 1919

Rev. R. S. Watson (Presbyterian)

No	161
Date of Notice	30 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Stephen Reid	Alice Mary Shand
	💍 1920/2574
Condition	Widower (21:11:18)	Spinster
Profession	Land Salesman
Age	35	43
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. S. S. Shand, 9 Durham Street, Mornington
Folio	36/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. S. Watson (Presbyterian)

162

30 December 1919

Max Ritchie
Agnes Isabel Wood

Max Ritchie
Agnes Isabel Wood
💍 1920/2575

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

38
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 months
6 years

Presbyterian Manse, 33 Young Street, St Kilda

37/1920

30 December 1919

Rev. R. Fairmaid (Presbyterian)

No	162
Date of Notice	30 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Max Ritchie	Agnes Isabel Wood
	💍 1920/2575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 33 Young Street, St Kilda
Folio	37/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fairmaid (Presbyterian)

163

30 December 1919

Jack Henry Hackett
Alexandrina Leslie

Jack Henry Hackett
Alexandrina Leslie
💍 1920/2590

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

23
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 months
26 years

St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

28/1920

30 December 1919

Canon E. R. Nevill (Church of England)

No	163
Date of Notice	30 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Henry Hackett	Alexandrina Leslie
	💍 1920/2590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 months	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	28/1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Canon E. R. Nevill (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).