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 3285

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar C. M. Marshall

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

161

10 March 1920

Frederick George Austin
Elizabeth Martha Margaret Stout

Frederick George Austin
Elizabeth Martha Margaret Stout
💍 1920/5927

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

28
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 months
20 years

St. Martin's Church, North East Valley, Dunedin

3223

10 March 1920

H. A. Friberg, Church of England

No	161
Date of Notice	10 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Austin	Elizabeth Martha Margaret Stout
	💍 1920/5927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Martin's Church, North East Valley, Dunedin
Folio	3223
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1920
Officiating Minister	H. A. Friberg, Church of England

162

10 March 1920

John Philip Rennil
Alice Maude Roythorne

John Philip Rennie
Alice Maude Roythorne
💍 1920/2202

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

37
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
4 months

St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin

1986

10 March 1920

W. Curzon-Siggers, Church of England

No	162
Date of Notice	10 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Philip Rennil	Alice Maude Roythorne
BDM Match (97%)	John Philip Rennie	Alice Maude Roythorne
	💍 1920/2202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	1986
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1920
Officiating Minister	W. Curzon-Siggers, Church of England

163

10 March 1920

Ernest Eccles
Dorothy Eva Allen

Ernest Eccles
Dorothy Eva Allen
💍 1920/5928

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

26
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 days
6 days

St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin

3224

10 March 1920

G. R. Nevill, Church of England

No	163
Date of Notice	10 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Eccles	Dorothy Eva Allen
	💍 1920/5928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	3224
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1920
Officiating Minister	G. R. Nevill, Church of England

164

10 March 1920

Alexander Paull
Louisa Whitelow Philp

Alexander Paull
Louisa Whichlaw Philp
💍 1920/2203

Widower 22.2.1919
Widow 24.2.1916

Retired Railway Employee

67
65

Dunedin
Dunedin

45 years
45 years

Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin

1987

11 March 1920

F. G. Cumming, Presbyterian

No	164
Date of Notice	10 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Paull	Louisa Whitelow Philp
BDM Match (93%)	Alexander Paull	Louisa Whichlaw Philp
	💍 1920/2203
Condition	Widower 22.2.1919	Widow 24.2.1916
Profession	Retired Railway Employee
Age	67	65
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	45 years	45 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church Vestry, Dunedin
Folio	1987
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1920
Officiating Minister	F. G. Cumming, Presbyterian

165

12 March 1920

George Booth Hastie
Amy Elizabeth Hastie

George Booth Hastie
Amy Elizabeth Hastie
💍 1920/3019

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk

29
22

Dunedin
Christchurch

29 years
12 years

Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

426

12 March 1920

J. J. North, Baptist

No	165
Date of Notice	12 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Booth Hastie	Amy Elizabeth Hastie
	💍 1920/3019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Christchurch
Length of Residence	29 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Oxford Terrace, Christchurch
Folio	426
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1920
Officiating Minister	J. J. North, Baptist

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).