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 3750

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar J. G. Petrie

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

183

14 July 1920

Eric John Galt
Annie Victoria Mervyn Denson

Eric John Galt
Annie Victoria Mervyn Simon
💍 1920/9075

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

26
32

Waianiwa
Invercargill

3 years
2 years

Brides Parents residence 201 Herbert St Invercargill

9101

14 July 1920

Rev H Maclean, Presbyterian

No	183
Date of Notice	14 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric John Galt	Annie Victoria Mervyn Denson
BDM Match (93%)	Eric John Galt	Annie Victoria Mervyn Simon
	💍 1920/9075
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	26	32
Dwelling Place	Waianiwa	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Brides Parents residence 201 Herbert St Invercargill
Folio	9101
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev H Maclean, Presbyterian

184

16 July 1920

Stanley Hubert Young
Katherine White

Stanley Herbert Young
Katherine White
💍 1920/9076

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic

22
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

22 years
23 years

Residence of Rev G. P. Hunt, Elles Road, Invercargill

9102

16 July 1920

Rev G. P. Hunt, Methodist

No	184
Date of Notice	16 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Hubert Young	Katherine White
BDM Match (95%)	Stanley Herbert Young	Katherine White
	💍 1920/9076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	22 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev G. P. Hunt, Elles Road, Invercargill
Folio	9102
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev G. P. Hunt, Methodist

185

16 July 1920

Robert Seamus Charles Shaw
Reaka Sharp

Robert Samuel Charles Shaw
Bertha Sharp
💍 1920/9077

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Waitress

23
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

19 years
4 years

Brides Parents residence 16 Earnslaw St Invercargill

9103

16 July 1920

Rev T. A. Sharp, Methodist

No	185
Date of Notice	16 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Seamus Charles Shaw	Reaka Sharp
BDM Match (78%)	Robert Samuel Charles Shaw	Bertha Sharp
	💍 1920/9077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Waitress
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	19 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Brides Parents residence 16 Earnslaw St Invercargill
Folio	9103
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev T. A. Sharp, Methodist

186

22 July 1920

William Somerville
Annie Elizabeth Beans

William Somerville
Annie Elizabeth Bearne
💍 1920/9078

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Cook

30
29

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
4 days

Registrar's Office Invercargill

9104

22 July 1920

Registrar

No	186
Date of Notice	22 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Somerville	Annie Elizabeth Beans
BDM Match (95%)	William Somerville	Annie Elizabeth Bearne
	💍 1920/9078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Cook
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Invercargill
Folio	9104
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar

187

23 July 1920

Reginald Albert Hill
Rita Ruby Elizabeth Ann May Smith

Reginald Albert Wills
Rita Elizabeth Ann May Smith
💍 1920/9079

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic

24
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

24 years
1 month

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St, Invercargill

9105

23 July 1920

Rev M Spillane, Roman Catholic

No	187
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Albert Hill	Rita Ruby Elizabeth Ann May Smith
BDM Match (88%)	Reginald Albert Wills	Rita Elizabeth Ann May Smith
	💍 1920/9079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	24 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne St, Invercargill
Folio	9105
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev M Spillane, 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).