Intentions to Marry, 1923 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840518, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923g contains pages 2671-3084, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2845

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar Duncan

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

112

1 October 1923

Thomas Liddon Parr
Eleanora Silkison

Thomas Liddan Parr
Eleanora Gilkison
💍 1923/7464

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Domestic Economist

32
22

Timaru
Dunedin

1 year
21 years

Residence of Mr. R. Silkison, 29 Highgate, Roslyn, Dunedin

9717

10 October 1923

Rev. A. W. Kinmont, Presbyterian

No	112
Date of Notice	1 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Liddon Parr	Eleanora Silkison
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Liddan Parr	Eleanora Gilkison
	💍 1923/7464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Domestic Economist
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Silkison, 29 Highgate, Roslyn, Dunedin
Folio	9717
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Kinmont, Presbyterian

113

9 October 1923

Robert William Bunningham
Katherine Falvey

Robert William Cunningham
Katherine Falvey
💍 1923/7661

Bachelor
Spinster

Mail Deliverer
Domestic Duties

23
26

Timaru
Timaru

1 1/2 years
12 years

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

10064

9 October 1923

Rev. P. Barrington, Anglican

No	113
Date of Notice	9 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Bunningham	Katherine Falvey
BDM Match (98%)	Robert William Cunningham	Katherine Falvey
	💍 1923/7661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mail Deliverer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	10064
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Barrington, Anglican

114

11 October 1923

Walter John Birnie
Margaret Howieson

Walter John Currie
Margaret Howieson
💍 1923/7465

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Upholsterer's assistant

45
35

Timaru
Timaru

3 years
3 years

Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru

9718

11 October 1923

Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

No	114
Date of Notice	11 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Birnie	Margaret Howieson
BDM Match (92%)	Walter John Currie	Margaret Howieson
	💍 1923/7465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Upholsterer's assistant
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	9718
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Begg, Presbyterian

115

11 October 1923

Edwin Matlock Hodgkinson
Margaret Bonner

Edwin Matlock Hodgkinson
Margaret Connor
💍 1923/7466

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur
Nurse

28
21

Glen-iti
Timaru

8 months
6 months

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

9719

11 October 1923

Rev. P. S. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	115
Date of Notice	11 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Matlock Hodgkinson	Margaret Bonner
BDM Match (93%)	Edwin Matlock Hodgkinson	Margaret Connor
	💍 1923/7466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur	Nurse
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Glen-iti	Timaru
Length of Residence	8 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	9719
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. S. Hughes, Presbyterian

116

23 October 1923

John Brown Summers
Merle McLean

John Brown Summers
Merle McLean
💍 1923/7467

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Merchant
Milliner

20
18

Timaru
Timaru

1 day
3 months

Unitarian Hall, Church Street, Timaru

9720

William Summers (Father), William James McLean (Father)

23 October 1923

Rev. W. Jellie, Unitarian

No	116
Date of Notice	23 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brown Summers	Merle McLean
	💍 1923/7467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Merchant	Milliner
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 day	3 months
Marriage Place	Unitarian Hall, Church Street, Timaru
Folio	9720
Consent	William Summers (Father), William James McLean (Father)
Date of Certificate	23 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Jellie, Unitarian

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).