Intentions to Marry, 1920 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840495, 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.

1920h contains pages 3441-3864, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3719

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar J. M. Kittuies

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

3 February 1920

George Phillip Lyons
Elizabeth Florance White

George Phillip Lyons
Elizabeth Florence White
💍 1920/12549

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

42
37

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
1 year

St Johns Church Tay street Invercargill

3042

3 February 1920

Ven Archdeacon J. Richards, Church of England

No	31
Date of Notice	3 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Phillip Lyons	Elizabeth Florance White
BDM Match (98%)	George Phillip Lyons	Elizabeth Florence White
	💍 1920/12549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	42	37
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Tay street Invercargill
Folio	3042
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon J. Richards, Church of England

5 February 1920

William Henry Pascoe
Myra Winifred McRae

William Henry Pascoe
Myra Winifred McRae
💍 1920/7955

Widower 19.11.1918
Spinster

Railway - shunter
Domestic

34
23

Hawthorndale
Hawthorndale

4 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church Tay street Invercargill

3043

5 February 1920

Rev. E. Bisset, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	5 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Pascoe	Myra Winifred McRae
	💍 1920/7955
Condition	Widower 19.11.1918	Spinster
Profession	Railway - shunter	Domestic
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Hawthorndale	Hawthorndale
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tay street Invercargill
Folio	3043
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bisset, Presbyterian

5 February 1920

John Scully
Eileen Cicely Mahoney

John Scully
Eileen Cicely Mahoney
💍 1920/7956

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal clerk
Tailoress

36
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

36 years
27 years

Roman Catholic Church Tyne street Invercargill

3044

5 February 1920

Very Rev W Burke, Roman Catholic

No	33
Date of Notice	5 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Scully	Eileen Cicely Mahoney
	💍 1920/7956
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal clerk	Tailoress
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	36 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Tyne street Invercargill
Folio	3044
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Very Rev W Burke, Roman Catholic

6 February 1920

Reginald Seymour Williams
Genevieve Rubina Keddell

Reginald Seymour Williams
Genevieve Rubina Keddell
💍 1920/7957

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

39
33

Wellington
Invercargill

1 month
2 years

St Johns Church Tay street Invercargill

3045

6 February 1920

Ven Archdeacon J. Richards, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	6 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Seymour Williams	Genevieve Rubina Keddell
	💍 1920/7957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 month	2 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Tay street Invercargill
Folio	3045
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon J. Richards, Church of England

6 February 1920

Henry Bull
Margaret Isabel Cunningham

Henry Bull
Margaret Isabel Cunningham
💍 1920/7959

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman NZR

23
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

9 years
18 years

Residence of Mrs R Bull - 161 Conon street Invercargill

3046

Charles Cunningham (father)

6 February 1920

Rev H. N. Woods, Roman Catholic

No	35
Date of Notice	6 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Bull	Margaret Isabel Cunningham
	💍 1920/7959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman NZR
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs R Bull - 161 Conon street Invercargill
Folio	3046
Consent	Charles Cunningham (father)
Date of Certificate	6 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H. N. Woods, Roman Catholic

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).