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 3099

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

665

7 November 1921

Albert John Ings
Isabella Kerr Dickson

Albert John Ings
Isabella Kerr Dickson
💍 1921/8576

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
32

Tomahawk
Portobello

29 years
32 years

Knox Church, Dunedin

9327

7 November 1921

G. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	665
Date of Notice	7 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Ings	Isabella Kerr Dickson
	💍 1921/8576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Tomahawk	Portobello
Length of Residence	29 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	9327
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1921
Officiating Minister	G. McDonald, Presbyterian

666

8 November 1921

Arthur Wilfred Thompson
Margareta Stewart

Arthur Wilfred Thompson
Margareta Stewart
💍 1921/8583

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
22

Abbotsford
Burnside

14 years
15 years

Church of Christ, Burnside

9328

A. Thompson (Father)

8 November 1921

S.G. Griffith, Church of Christ

No	666
Date of Notice	8 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Wilfred Thompson	Margareta Stewart
	💍 1921/8583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Abbotsford	Burnside
Length of Residence	14 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Burnside
Folio	9328
Consent	A. Thompson (Father)
Date of Certificate	8 November 1921
Officiating Minister	S.G. Griffith, Church of Christ

667

9 November 1921

James Herbert Alexander Heslop
Muriel Elizabeth Quelch

James Herbert Alexander Heslop
Muriel Elizabeth Quelch
💍 1921/8584

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

30
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
10 days

St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin

9329

9 November 1921

J.P. Delany, Roman Catholic

No	667
Date of Notice	9 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Herbert Alexander Heslop	Muriel Elizabeth Quelch
	💍 1921/8584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	10 days
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	9329
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1921
Officiating Minister	J.P. Delany, Roman Catholic

668

9 November 1921

William Williams
Mary Jane Craig

William Williams
Mary Jane Craig
💍 1921/8585

Bachelor
Widow

Shepherd

31
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse, 33 Young Street, St. Kilda

9330

9 November 1921

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	668
Date of Notice	9 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Williams	Mary Jane Craig
	💍 1921/8585
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shepherd
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 33 Young Street, St. Kilda
Folio	9330
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1921
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

669

9 November 1921

Lionel Beaumont McGoverne
Evelyn Lilian Teresa Smith

Lionel Beaumont McGoverne
Evelyn Lilian Teresa Smith
💍 1921/8586

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

19
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 days
7 months

St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin

9331

F.E. McGoverne (Father)

9 November 1921

F.J. Marlow, Roman Catholic

No	669
Date of Notice	9 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Beaumont McGoverne	Evelyn Lilian Teresa Smith
	💍 1921/8586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	19	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 days	7 months
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	9331
Consent	F.E. McGoverne (Father)
Date of Certificate	9 November 1921
Officiating Minister	F.J. Marlow, 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).