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 2670

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar J. McKittrick

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

24 February 1919

James Edmund Willoughby Cross
Louise Sylvia Kennedy

James Edmund Willoughby Cross
Louise Sylvia Kennedy
💍 1919/1773

Bachelor
Widow (21-11-1916)

Wine + Spirit Merchant
Domestic duties

40
36

Timaru
Timaru

4 days
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Timaru

1505

24 February 1919

J. McKittrick, Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	24 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edmund Willoughby Cross	Louise Sylvia Kennedy
	💍 1919/1773
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (21-11-1916)
Profession	Wine + Spirit Merchant	Domestic duties
Age	40	36
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Timaru
Folio	1505
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1919
Officiating Minister	J. McKittrick, Registrar

26 February 1919

Archibald Henderson Ritchie
Dorothy Ellen Foson

Archibald Henderson Ritchie
Dorothy Ellen Foxon
💍 1919/1774

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

23
21

St Andrews
St Andrews

2 months
10 years

Anglican Church, St Andrews

1506

26 February 1919

Rev. C. K. Rules, Anglican

No	17
Date of Notice	26 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Henderson Ritchie	Dorothy Ellen Foson
BDM Match (97%)	Archibald Henderson Ritchie	Dorothy Ellen Foxon
	💍 1919/1774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	St Andrews	St Andrews
Length of Residence	2 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, St Andrews
Folio	1506
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. K. Rules, Anglican

4 March 1919

James Nicole Work
Isabella McKay Marshall

James Nicole Work
Isabella McKay Marshall
💍 1919/1775

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

27
29

Timaru
Timaru

4 days
3 months

Residence of Mr. H. J. Marshall, 298 Otipua Road, Timaru

1507

4 March 1919

Rev. Adam Begg, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	4 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Nicole Work	Isabella McKay Marshall
	💍 1919/1775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. H. J. Marshall, 298 Otipua Road, Timaru
Folio	1507
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Adam Begg, Presbyterian

7 March 1919

Wardill Mankin Allan
Mary McDougall

Wardill Markin Allan
Mary McDougall
💍 1919/1776

Bachelor
Spinster

marine Engineer
Shop Assistant

23
23

Timaru
Timaru

6 days
1 year

Residence of Mr. Duncan McDougall, 16 Le Crens Terrace, Timaru

1508

7 March 1919

Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	7 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wardill Mankin Allan	Mary McDougall
BDM Match (98%)	Wardill Markin Allan	Mary McDougall
	💍 1919/1776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	marine Engineer	Shop Assistant
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Duncan McDougall, 16 Le Crens Terrace, Timaru
Folio	1508
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harries, Presbyterian

10 March 1919

Walter Howie Thomson
Mary Eliza Robbins

Walter Howie Thomson
Mary Eliza Robbin
💍 1919/1777

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic

39
29

Timaru
Timaru

28 years
3 months

St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

1509

10 March 1919

Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

No	20
Date of Notice	10 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Howie Thomson	Mary Eliza Robbins
BDM Match (97%)	Walter Howie Thomson	Mary Eliza Robbin
	💍 1919/1777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	28 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	1509
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Rogers, Anglican

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).