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 3389

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar W. H. Smith

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

662

5 October 1920

John Bramwell Wilkinson
Jessie Christie Perrin

John Bramwell Wilkinson
Jessie Christie Perrin
💍 1920/10311

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

21
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
10 years

Residence of Mr. Perrin, 53 Clyde Street, Dunedin

9587

Alfred Perrin, Father

5 October 1920

H. K. Kempton, Baptist

No	662
Date of Notice	5 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bramwell Wilkinson	Jessie Christie Perrin
	💍 1920/10311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Perrin, 53 Clyde Street, Dunedin
Folio	9587
Consent	Alfred Perrin, Father
Date of Certificate	5 October 1920
Officiating Minister	H. K. Kempton, Baptist

663

5 October 1920

Leonard Peter Hoff
Janet Pearle Isoline Jane Garvie

Leonard Peter Hoff
Janet Pearle Isoline Jarvie
💍 1920/10312

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

28
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

15 years
4 years

Presbyterian Manse, Young Street, St. Kilda

9588

5 October 1920

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	663
Date of Notice	5 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Peter Hoff	Janet Pearle Isoline Jane Garvie
BDM Match (92%)	Leonard Peter Hoff	Janet Pearle Isoline Jarvie
	💍 1920/10312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Young Street, St. Kilda
Folio	9588
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1920
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

664

5 October 1920

Andrew Hugh Sutherland
Margaret Fraser Mason

Andrew Hugh Sutherland
Margaret Fraser Wason
💍 1920/10313

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

38
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
6 days

Residence of Mrs. Given, 333 Castle Street, Dunedin

9589

5 October 1920

R. Waddell, Presbyterian

No	664
Date of Notice	5 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Hugh Sutherland	Margaret Fraser Mason
BDM Match (98%)	Andrew Hugh Sutherland	Margaret Fraser Wason
	💍 1920/10313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	6 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Given, 333 Castle Street, Dunedin
Folio	9589
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1920
Officiating Minister	R. Waddell, Presbyterian

665

5 October 1920

Maxwell McNaught Shore
Barbara Jamieson

Maxwell McNaught Shore
Barbara Jamieson
💍 1920/10314

Bachelor
Widow 11-8-1915

Engine Driver

42
33

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 months
4 years

Presbyterian Manse, Young Street, South Dunedin

9590

5 October 1920

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	665
Date of Notice	5 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maxwell McNaught Shore	Barbara Jamieson
	💍 1920/10314
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 11-8-1915
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	42	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Young Street, South Dunedin
Folio	9590
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1920
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

666

6 October 1920

John Melling Hewitt Nicholson
Nellie Hodgson

John Melling Hewitt Nicholson
Nellie Hodgson
💍 1920/10315

Bachelor
Divorced Decree absolute 21-10-1919

Seaman

34
36

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 day
3 days

St. Matthews Church, Dunedin

9591

6 October 1920

W. Curzon-Siggers, Anglican

No	666
Date of Notice	6 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Melling Hewitt Nicholson	Nellie Hodgson
	💍 1920/10315
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree absolute 21-10-1919
Profession	Seaman
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 day	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Dunedin
Folio	9591
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1920
Officiating Minister	W. Curzon-Siggers, 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).