Intentions to Marry, 1920 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840494, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1920g contains pages 2957-3440, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2987

District of Hororata Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar W. D. Willsteed

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

6 July 1920

John Duncan
Margaret Annette Beauchamp

John Duncan
Margaret Annette Beauchamp
💍 1920/9308

Widower
Spinster

Settler
Domestic

71
50

Picton
Kaikoura

20 years
2 years

St John's Church of England Hororata

8869

6 July 1920

Rev. H. E. Ensor, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	6 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Duncan	Margaret Annette Beauchamp
	💍 1920/9308
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler	Domestic
Age	71	50
Dwelling Place	Picton	Kaikoura
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church of England Hororata
Folio	8869
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Ensor, Church of England

24 July 1920

Reginald Kearcy
Edna Jean Ensor

Reginald Pearcy
Edna Jean Ensor
💍 1920/6090

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

31
30

Okuku Rangiora
Hororata

3 days
1 year

Church of the Good Shepherd Phillipstown Christchurch

7343

24 July 1920

Rev. H. E. Ensor, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	24 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Kearcy	Edna Jean Ensor
BDM Match (97%)	Reginald Pearcy	Edna Jean Ensor
	💍 1920/6090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Okuku Rangiora	Hororata
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of the Good Shepherd Phillipstown Christchurch
Folio	7343
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Ensor, Church of England

28 July 1920

Joe Boaler
Ruth Dunlop

Joe Boaler
Ruth Dunlop
💍 1920/9310

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Domestic

22
21

Whitecliffs
Hororata

3 months
3 months

Home of the Bride's Parents Hororata

8870

28 July 1920

Rev. Petrie, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	28 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joe Boaler	Ruth Dunlop
	💍 1920/9310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Whitecliffs	Hororata
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Home of the Bride's Parents Hororata
Folio	8870
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Petrie, Church of England

30 July 1920

William Thomas
Gladys May Green

William Thomas
Gladys May Green
💍 1920/9311

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

23
21

Glentunnel
Glentunnel

2 years
11 years

Residence of Mrs Helen Campbell South Malvern

8871

30 July 1920

Rev. J. J. Bates, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	30 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas	Gladys May Green
	💍 1920/9311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Glentunnel	Glentunnel
Length of Residence	2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Helen Campbell South Malvern
Folio	8871
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates, Presbyterian

9 August 1920

Walter Andrew McIntosh Nelson
Hilda Mary Hockridge

Walter Andrew McIntosh Nelson
Hilda Mary Hockridge
💍 1920/9312

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

37
28

Hororata
Hororata

37 years
28 years

Presbyterian Church Greendale

8872

9 August 1920

Rev. J. J. Bates, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	9 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Andrew McIntosh Nelson	Hilda Mary Hockridge
	💍 1920/9312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Hororata	Hororata
Length of Residence	37 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Greendale
Folio	8872
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Bates, 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).