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 2973

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar A. E. Reynolds

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

131

26 March 1923

David Kirkwood Torrance
Dora Helen Fullerton Carnegie

David Kirkwood Torrance
Dora Helen Fullerton Carnegie
💍 1923/1913

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

29
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
28 years

Residence of Mr. D. F. Carnegie, 82 South Road, Caversham

1377

26 March 1923

D. Dutton, Presbyterian

No	131
Date of Notice	26 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Kirkwood Torrance	Dora Helen Fullerton Carnegie
	💍 1923/1913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. D. F. Carnegie, 82 South Road, Caversham
Folio	1377
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1923
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton, Presbyterian

132

26 March 1923

William Everard Gibson
Florence Nightingale McDonald

William Everard Gibson
Florence Nightingale McDonald
💍 1923/1914

Bachelor
Widow (20 November 1918)

Motor Mechanic

33
33

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 days
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Andersons Bay

1378

26 March 1923

G. H. Jupp, Presbyterian

No	132
Date of Notice	26 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Everard Gibson	Florence Nightingale McDonald
	💍 1923/1914
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (20 November 1918)
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Andersons Bay
Folio	1378
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1923
Officiating Minister	G. H. Jupp, Presbyterian

133

27 March 1923

Frederick Mitchell
Minnie Louisa Sutton

Frederick Mitchell
Minnie Louisa Sutton
💍 1923/2887

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
24

Macandrew's Bay
Dunedin

15 years
7 years

First Church, Dunedin

2609

27 March 1923

G. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	133
Date of Notice	27 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Mitchell	Minnie Louisa Sutton
	💍 1923/2887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Macandrew's Bay	Dunedin
Length of Residence	15 years	7 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Dunedin
Folio	2609
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1923
Officiating Minister	G. McDonald, Presbyterian

134

27 March 1923

Alexander Kirkwood Hamilton
Nina Helen Gordon-Glassford

Alexander Kirkwood Hamilton
Nina Helen Gordon-Glassford
💍 1923/1915

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Officer

39
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 1/2 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, North East Valley, Dunedin

1379

27 March 1923

R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

No	134
Date of Notice	27 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Kirkwood Hamilton	Nina Helen Gordon-Glassford
	💍 1923/1915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Officer
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, North East Valley, Dunedin
Folio	1379
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1923
Officiating Minister	R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

135

27 March 1923

Robert James Miller
Mary Agnes Flynn

Robert James Miller
Mary Agnes Flynn
💍 1923/1916

Widower (4/9/1916)
Spinster

Storeman

52
53

Dunedin
Dunedin

52 years
20 years

St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin

1380

27 March 1923

J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

No	135
Date of Notice	27 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Miller	Mary Agnes Flynn
	💍 1923/1916
Condition	Widower (4/9/1916)	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	52	53
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	52 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	1380
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1923
Officiating Minister	J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).