Intentions to Marry, 1921 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840503, 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.

1921h contains pages 3127-3538, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3415

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Invercargill Registrar H. E. Philp

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

24 March 1921

Bernard Belatti
Allison Hellie Duming

Bernard Belotti
Allison Lillie Durning
💍 1921/1238

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Domestic

65
60

Wreys Bush
Invercargill

35 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill

2871

24 March 1921

W. Burke, Roman Catholic

No	61
Date of Notice	24 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Belatti	Allison Hellie Duming
BDM Match (88%)	Bernard Belotti	Allison Lillie Durning
	💍 1921/1238
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	65	60
Dwelling Place	Wreys Bush	Invercargill
Length of Residence	35 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	2871
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Burke, Roman Catholic

24 March 1921

Thomas Shaw
Ruly Olive Jean Insall

Thomas Shaw
Ruby Olive Jean Insall
💍 1921/1239

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic

30
19

Invercargill
Otamita

30 years
10 years

Methodist Manse, Grey Street, Invercargill

2872

Arthur Insall, Father

24 March 1921

L. A. Sharp, Methodist

No	62
Date of Notice	24 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Shaw	Ruly Olive Jean Insall
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Shaw	Ruby Olive Jean Insall
	💍 1921/1239
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Otamita
Length of Residence	30 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Manse, Grey Street, Invercargill
Folio	2872
Consent	Arthur Insall, Father
Date of Certificate	24 March 1921
Officiating Minister	L. A. Sharp, Methodist

29 March 1921

Robert George Vivian Menzies
Honorah Agatha Nash

Robert George Vivian Menzies
Honora Agatha Nash
💍 1921/1240

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic

23
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 days
3 months

Roman Catholic Church, Lyne Street, Invercargill

2873

29 March 1921

W. Burke, Roman Catholic

No	63
Date of Notice	29 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Vivian Menzies	Honorah Agatha Nash
BDM Match (97%)	Robert George Vivian Menzies	Honora Agatha Nash
	💍 1921/1240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Lyne Street, Invercargill
Folio	2873
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Burke, Roman Catholic

29 March 1921

Robin Redvers Baden Bennett
Elizabeth Daisy Foster

Robin Redvers Baden Bennetts
Elizabeth Daisy Foster
💍 1921/1241

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 days
6 days

Residence of Rev. Hadhart, 228 Spey Street, Invercargill

2874

Harry Hubert Foster, Father

29 March 1921

H. A. Sharp, Methodist

No	64
Date of Notice	29 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robin Redvers Baden Bennett	Elizabeth Daisy Foster
BDM Match (98%)	Robin Redvers Baden Bennetts	Elizabeth Daisy Foster
	💍 1921/1241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. Hadhart, 228 Spey Street, Invercargill
Folio	2874
Consent	Harry Hubert Foster, Father
Date of Certificate	29 March 1921
Officiating Minister	H. A. Sharp, Methodist

30 March 1921

Martin Campbell
Ellen Amelia Ann Brown

Martin Campbell
Ellen Amelia Ann Brown
💍 1921/1242

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill-hand
Domestic

26
18

Invercargill
Waimatua

10 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

2875

Amelia Ann Reynolds, Mother

30 March 1921

Registrar

No	65
Date of Notice	30 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Campbell	Ellen Amelia Ann Brown
	💍 1921/1242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill-hand	Domestic
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Waimatua
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	2875
Consent	Amelia Ann Reynolds, Mother
Date of Certificate	30 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).