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 2852

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar A. H. Grant

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

319

7 July 1919

John Reid
May Robertson

John Reid
May Robertson
💍 1919/5198

John Weir
Gladys Marie Robertson
💍 1919/1075

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman

34
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 years
5 years

House of Rev. C. Eaton, Royal Terrace, Dunedin

4463

7 July 1919

C. Eaton Methodist

No	319
Date of Notice	7 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Reid	May Robertson
	💍 1919/5198
BDM Match (66%)	John Weir	Gladys Marie Robertson
	💍 1919/1075
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. C. Eaton, Royal Terrace, Dunedin
Folio	4463
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1919
Officiating Minister	C. Eaton Methodist

320

7 July 1919

James Freeman Green
Janie Wilson

James Freeman Green
Janie Wilson
💍 1919/5199

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 month
1 week

St. Matthews Church, Dunedin.

4464

7 July 1919

W. Curzon-Siggers Church of England

No	320
Date of Notice	7 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Freeman Green	Janie Wilson
	💍 1919/5199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 month	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Dunedin.
Folio	4464
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1919
Officiating Minister	W. Curzon-Siggers Church of England

321

7 July 1919

John Lionel Grant Wilson
Matilda Ann Billington

John Lionel Grant Wilson
Matilda Ann Billington
💍 1919/5200

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

46
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

44 years
11 days Caversham

St. Peters Church, Caversham

4465

C. J. Billington (Father)

7 July 1919

J. L. Mortimer Church of England

No	321
Date of Notice	7 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lionel Grant Wilson	Matilda Ann Billington
	💍 1919/5200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	46	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	44 years	11 days Caversham
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Caversham
Folio	4465
Consent	C. J. Billington (Father)
Date of Certificate	7 July 1919
Officiating Minister	J. L. Mortimer Church of England

322

8 July 1919

James Francis Gilbert
Winifred Kirkwood

James Francis Gilbert
Winifred Kirwood
💍 1919/7222

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

27
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
25 years Roslyn

St. Johns Church

6676

8 July 1919

W. A. R. Fitchett Church of England

No	322
Date of Notice	8 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Francis Gilbert	Winifred Kirkwood
BDM Match (97%)	James Francis Gilbert	Winifred Kirwood
	💍 1919/7222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	25 years Roslyn
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church
Folio	6676
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1919
Officiating Minister	W. A. R. Fitchett Church of England

323

8 July 1919

Eric Alfred Bastings Arbuckle
Jean Ogilvie

Eric Alfred Bastings Arbuckle
Jean Ogilvie
💍 1919/5201

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin.

4466

8 July 1919

H. Maxwell Acting Registrar

No	323
Date of Notice	8 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Alfred Bastings Arbuckle	Jean Ogilvie
	💍 1919/5201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin.
Folio	4466
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1919
Officiating Minister	H. Maxwell Acting Registrar

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).