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 3011

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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

320

22 June 1923

Francis Thomas Delargey
Margaret Minnie Hawke

Francis Thomas Delargey
Margaret Minnie Hawke
💍 1923/8512

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel-keeper

31
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

11 years
10 years

St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin

3852

22 June 1923

C. J. Collins, Roman Catholic

No	320
Date of Notice	22 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Thomas Delargey	Margaret Minnie Hawke
	💍 1923/8512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel-keeper
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	3852
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1923
Officiating Minister	C. J. Collins, Roman Catholic

321

25 June 1923

Cecil Rhodes Hedges
Freda Constance Murray

Cecil Rhodes Hedges
Freda Constance Murray
💍 1923/8519

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Mornington

3853

J. H. Hedges (Father), D. A. Thom (Mother, formerly Murray)

25 June 1923

W. Trotter, Presbyterian

No	321
Date of Notice	25 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Rhodes Hedges	Freda Constance Murray
	💍 1923/8519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mornington
Folio	3853
Consent	J. H. Hedges (Father), D. A. Thom (Mother, formerly Murray)
Date of Certificate	25 June 1923
Officiating Minister	W. Trotter, Presbyterian

322

26 June 1923

Norman Edmund Victor Arundel
Tui Morrell

Norman Edmund Victor Arundel
Tui Morrell
💍 1923/10077

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer

26
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
2 years

St. John's Church, Roslyn

5208

26 June 1923

V. G. B. King, Anglican

No	322
Date of Notice	26 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Edmund Victor Arundel	Tui Morrell
	💍 1923/10077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Roslyn
Folio	5208
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1923
Officiating Minister	V. G. B. King, Anglican

323

27 June 1923

Arthur Herbert Mowbray
Hannah Ethel Ponton

Arthur Herbert Mowbray
Hannah Ethel Ponton
💍 1923/8520

Bachelor
Divorced Decree Absolute 11:12:1919

Labourer

34
34

Dunedin
Dunedin

17 years
34 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

3854

27 June 1923

Registrar

No	323
Date of Notice	27 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Herbert Mowbray	Hannah Ethel Ponton
	💍 1923/8520
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree Absolute 11:12:1919
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	17 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	3854
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

324

27 June 1923

James Spiers
Eileen Agnes Devereux

James Spiers
Eileen Agnes Devereux
💍 1923/8521

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

22
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

22 years
5 years

Residence of Mrs. R. C. Glendining, 58 Highgate, Roslyn

3855

27 June 1923

E. J. Tipler, Presbyterian

No	324
Date of Notice	27 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Spiers	Eileen Agnes Devereux
	💍 1923/8521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. R. C. Glendining, 58 Highgate, Roslyn
Folio	3855
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1923
Officiating Minister	E. J. Tipler, Presbyterian

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).