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 3045

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar A. B. O'Connell

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

477

11 October 1923

Charles Alfred Turner
Agnes Hilda Thomson

Charles Alfred Turner
Agnes Hilda Thomson
💍 1923/6610

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

46
35

Gisborne
Dunedin

4 months
5 months

Residence of Mr. J. Meek, 19 Fifield Street, Roslyn

8604

11 October 1923

T. Yuille, Presbyterian

No	477
Date of Notice	11 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alfred Turner	Agnes Hilda Thomson
	💍 1923/6610
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	46	35
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Meek, 19 Fifield Street, Roslyn
Folio	8604
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1923
Officiating Minister	T. Yuille, Presbyterian

478

12 October 1923

John Joseph Dooley
Edith Webster

John Joseph Dooley
Edith Webster
💍 1923/6611

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

31
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

8605

12 October 1923

J. Foley, Roman Catholic

No	478
Date of Notice	12 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Dooley	Edith Webster
	💍 1923/6611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	8605
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1923
Officiating Minister	J. Foley, Roman Catholic

479

13 October 1923

George Abercrombie
Margaret Williams

George Abercrombie
Margaret Williams
💍 1923/6612

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial traveller

33
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 years
10 years

St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin

8606

13 October 1923

W. A. Hamblett, Anglican

No	479
Date of Notice	13 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Abercrombie	Margaret Williams
	💍 1923/6612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial traveller
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	8606
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1923
Officiating Minister	W. A. Hamblett, Anglican

480

15 October 1923

Charles Robert Porthous
Frances Jessie Stanaway

Charles Robert Porthous
Francis Jessie Stanaway
💍 1923/6613

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

28 years
5 years

Residence of Rev. G. Thornton, 32 Begg Street, Musselburgh

8607

15 October 1923

G. Thornton, Baptist

No	480
Date of Notice	15 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robert Porthous	Frances Jessie Stanaway
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Robert Porthous	Francis Jessie Stanaway
	💍 1923/6613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	28 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. Thornton, 32 Begg Street, Musselburgh
Folio	8607
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1923
Officiating Minister	G. Thornton, Baptist

481

15 October 1923

Eric Baverstock Osborne
Susan Dow

Eric Baverstock Osborne
Susan Dow
💍 1923/6614

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

22
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
18 years

First Church, Dunedin

8608

E. J. Miller (Mother)

15 October 1923

D. Dutton, Presbyterian

No	481
Date of Notice	15 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Baverstock Osborne	Susan Dow
	💍 1923/6614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	First Church, Dunedin
Folio	8608
Consent	E. J. Miller (Mother)
Date of Certificate	15 October 1923
Officiating Minister	D. Dutton, Presbyterian

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).