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 3772

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar F. G. Peter

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

293

25 November 1920

David White Hardy
Annie Theresa Holland

David White Hardy
Annie Thursa Hollands
💍 1920/9880

Widower 28/01/08
Spinster

Railway employee
Domestic

36
18

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
3 weeks

Residence of Benjamin Smith, 10 Bowmont St, Invercargill

12027

Christina Holland, Mother

25 November 1920

Rev. J. P. Cossum, Methodist

No	293
Date of Notice	25 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David White Hardy	Annie Theresa Holland
BDM Match (93%)	David White Hardy	Annie Thursa Hollands
	💍 1920/9880
Condition	Widower 28/01/08	Spinster
Profession	Railway employee	Domestic
Age	36	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Benjamin Smith, 10 Bowmont St, Invercargill
Folio	12027
Consent	Christina Holland, Mother
Date of Certificate	25 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Cossum, Methodist

294

26 November 1920

Herbert Bailey
Bessie Cunnagh Lutton

Herbert Bailey
Bessie Cunnuck Sutton
💍 1920/9886

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

26
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 months
16 years

Methodist Church, Don St, Invercargill

12028

26 November 1920

Rev. H. A. Sharp, Methodist

No	294
Date of Notice	26 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Bailey	Bessie Cunnagh Lutton
BDM Match (91%)	Herbert Bailey	Bessie Cunnuck Sutton
	💍 1920/9886
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Don St, Invercargill
Folio	12028
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Sharp, Methodist

295

26 November 1920

Norman Edwin Moffat
Matilda Janet Macdonald

Norman Edwin Moffat
Matilda Janet Macdonald
💍 1920/9887

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

32
34

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Residence of Rev. J. R. Robieson, North Road, Invercargill

12029

26 November 1920

Rev. J. R. Robieson, Presbyterian

No	295
Date of Notice	26 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Edwin Moffat	Matilda Janet Macdonald
	💍 1920/9887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. R. Robieson, North Road, Invercargill
Folio	12029
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Robieson, Presbyterian

296

29 November 1920

James Fyfe
Matilda McFarlan Allan

James Fyfe
Matilda McFarlane Allan
💍 1920/9888

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware salesman

38
37

Invercargill
Invercargill

9 years
5 days

Presbyterian Manse, North Road, Invercargill

12030

29 November 1920

Rev. J. R. Robieson, Presbyterian

No	296
Date of Notice	29 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Fyfe	Matilda McFarlan Allan
BDM Match (98%)	James Fyfe	Matilda McFarlane Allan
	💍 1920/9888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware salesman
Age	38	37
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, North Road, Invercargill
Folio	12030
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Robieson, Presbyterian

297

1 December 1920

Wallace Frederick Pope
Matilda Evelyn Wootton

Wallace Frederick Pope
Matilda Evelyn Wootton
💍 1920/9889

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic

30
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

30 years
3 days

English Church, Tay St, Invercargill

12031

1 December 1920

Rev. C. H. Roberts, English Church

No	297
Date of Notice	1 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace Frederick Pope	Matilda Evelyn Wootton
	💍 1920/9889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	30 years	3 days
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay St, Invercargill
Folio	12031
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Roberts, English Church

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).