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 2852

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Timaru Registrar A. W. Oakley

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

17 May 1921

Albert John Good
Ivy Brenda Bell

Albert John Good
Ivy Brenda Bell
💍 1921/874

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

20
18

Timaru
Timaru

2 years
2 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

5404

Clara Good, mother; Edwin Jamieson Bell, father

17 May 1921

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	80
Date of Notice	17 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Good	Ivy Brenda Bell
	💍 1921/874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	5404
Consent	Clara Good, mother; Edwin Jamieson Bell, father
Date of Certificate	17 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

18 May 1921

Joseph Eiddings
Gladys Emily Penno

Joseph Giddings
Gladys Emily Penno
💍 1921/875

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

41
19

Gleniti
Gleniti

2 months
2 months

Methodist Parsonage, Butler Street, Timaru

5405

Ernest Penno, father

18 May 1921

Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

No	81
Date of Notice	18 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Eiddings	Gladys Emily Penno
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph Giddings	Gladys Emily Penno
	💍 1921/875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	19
Dwelling Place	Gleniti	Gleniti
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Butler Street, Timaru
Folio	5405
Consent	Ernest Penno, father
Date of Certificate	18 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Hay, Methodist

19 May 1921

Humphrey James Bowkett
Euphemia McPherson

Humphrey James Bowkett
Euphemia McPherson
💍 1921/876

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Dressmaker

28
23

Timaru
Timaru

7 years
7 years

Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru

5406

19 May 1921

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	82
Date of Notice	19 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Humphrey James Bowkett	Euphemia McPherson
	💍 1921/876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Dressmaker
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	5406
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

20 May 1921

Wickliffe George Trengrove
Lettie Francis Gussy James

Wickliffe George Trengrove
Lettie Francis Gussy James
💍 1921/877

Widower (30 April 1915)
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

42
37

Gleniti
Gleniti

3 years
3 years

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

5407

20 May 1921

Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

No	83
Date of Notice	20 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wickliffe George Trengrove	Lettie Francis Gussy James
	💍 1921/877
Condition	Widower (30 April 1915)	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	42	37
Dwelling Place	Gleniti	Gleniti
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	5407
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

23 May 1921

Albert Richards
Gladys Bird Leathwick

Albert Richards
Gladys Bird Leathwick
💍 1921/878

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Domestic Duties

22
21

Southburn
Southburn

1 year
1 year

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

5408

23 May 1921

Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

No	84
Date of Notice	23 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Richards	Gladys Bird Leathwick
	💍 1921/878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Southburn	Southburn
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	5408
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Julius, Anglican

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).