Intentions to Marry, 1921 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840502, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 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.

1921g contains pages 2691-3126, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 3087

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Dunedin Registrar A. E. [illegible]

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

605

8 October 1921

Ernest Sinclair
Evelyn May Pellett

Ernest Sinclair
Evelyn May Pellett
💍 1921/8500

Bachelor
Spinster

Health Inspector

25
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

25 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church Kaikorai

9268

8 October 1921

W.R. Hutchison, Presbyterian

No	605
Date of Notice	8 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Sinclair	Evelyn May Pellett
	💍 1921/8500
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Health Inspector
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kaikorai
Folio	9268
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1921
Officiating Minister	W.R. Hutchison, Presbyterian

606

11 October 1921

Thomas Watts
Jessie Isabella George

Thomas Watts
Jessie Isabella George
💍 1921/8501

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Blacksmith

29
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
21 years

Residence of Mrs. J.A. George, 76 Fawcett Street Dunedin

9269

11 October 1921

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	606
Date of Notice	11 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Watts	Jessie Isabella George
	💍 1921/8501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Blacksmith
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. J.A. George, 76 Fawcett Street Dunedin
Folio	9269
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1921
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

607

11 October 1921

Charles McIntyre Burgess
Margaret Strachan Buchan

Charles McIntyre Burgess
Margaret Strachan Buchan
💍 1921/8502

Bachelor
Spinster

Town Clerk

45
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
24 years

Residence of Mr. J. Buchan, 261 Hanover Street Dunedin

9270

11 October 1921

A.H. Wallace, Congregational

No	607
Date of Notice	11 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles McIntyre Burgess	Margaret Strachan Buchan
	💍 1921/8502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Town Clerk
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Buchan, 261 Hanover Street Dunedin
Folio	9270
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1921
Officiating Minister	A.H. Wallace, Congregational

608

11 October 1921

Ernest Henry Calder
Gladys Muriel McRoberts

Ernest Henry Calder
Gwladys Muriel McRoberts
💍 1921/8504

Bachelor
Spinster

Grain, Seed & Produce Broker

34
30

Dunedin
At Sea

29 years
5 weeks

Presbyterian Church Roslyn

9271

11 October 1921

R.E. Davies, Presbyterian

No	608
Date of Notice	11 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Henry Calder	Gladys Muriel McRoberts
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Henry Calder	Gwladys Muriel McRoberts
	💍 1921/8504
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grain, Seed & Produce Broker
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	At Sea
Length of Residence	29 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Roslyn
Folio	9271
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1921
Officiating Minister	R.E. Davies, Presbyterian

609

12 October 1921

Robert Edward Lerrigo
Harriet Lillian Mary Duncan

Robert Edward Lerrigo
Harriet Lilian Mary Duncan
💍 1921/8505

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 31:8:1921

Tailor

47
30

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 years
30 years

Residence of Rev. C. Eaton, 56 Royal Terrace Dunedin

9272

12 October 1921

C. Eaton, Methodist

No	609
Date of Notice	12 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Edward Lerrigo	Harriet Lillian Mary Duncan
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Edward Lerrigo	Harriet Lilian Mary Duncan
	💍 1921/8505
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 31:8:1921
Profession	Tailor
Age	47	30
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. C. Eaton, 56 Royal Terrace Dunedin
Folio	9272
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1921
Officiating Minister	C. Eaton, Methodist

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).