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 2974

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

136

27 March 1923

George Gilbert
Violet May Campbell

George Gilbert
Violet May Campbell
💍 1923/1917

Bachelor
Spinster

Laboratory Assistant

28
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 years
10 years

St. Peter's Church, Caversham

1381

27 March 1923

W. Uphill, Anglican

No	136
Date of Notice	27 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gilbert	Violet May Campbell
	💍 1923/1917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laboratory Assistant
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Caversham
Folio	1381
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1923
Officiating Minister	W. Uphill, Anglican

137

27 March 1923

John Doull
Minnie Edith Welsh

John Doull
Minnie Edith Welsh
💍 1923/1918

Bachelor
Spinster

Canvasser

25
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

25 years
23 years

Baptist Church, Oxford Street, South Dunedin

1382

27 March 1923

G. Thornton, Baptist

No	137
Date of Notice	27 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Doull	Minnie Edith Welsh
	💍 1923/1918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Canvasser
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Oxford Street, South Dunedin
Folio	1382
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1923
Officiating Minister	G. Thornton, Baptist

138

27 March 1923

David James Edward Macpherson
Ida Claribel Bastings

David James Edward Macpherson
Ida Claribel Bustings
💍 1923/2888

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent

20
17

Dunedin
Dunedin

20 years
7 years

St. John's Church, Roslyn

2610

D. Macpherson (Father), A. I. Bastings (Mother)

27 March 1923

W. A. R. Fitchett, Anglican

No	138
Date of Notice	27 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David James Edward Macpherson	Ida Claribel Bastings
BDM Match (98%)	David James Edward Macpherson	Ida Claribel Bustings
	💍 1923/2888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Roslyn
Folio	2610
Consent	D. Macpherson (Father), A. I. Bastings (Mother)
Date of Certificate	27 March 1923
Officiating Minister	W. A. R. Fitchett, Anglican

139

27 March 1923

Thomas George Storie
Claribel Annie Eliza Wattson

Thomas George Storie
Claribel Annie Eliza Wattson
💍 1923/1919

Bachelor
Spinster

Cloth Designer

26
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
17 years

Residence of Mr. C. J. Wattson, 8 Cliffs Road, St. Clair, Dunedin

1383

27 March 1923

I. Sarginson, Congregational

No	139
Date of Notice	27 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas George Storie	Claribel Annie Eliza Wattson
	💍 1923/1919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cloth Designer
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. J. Wattson, 8 Cliffs Road, St. Clair, Dunedin
Folio	1383
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1923
Officiating Minister	I. Sarginson, Congregational

140

28 March 1923

Arthur Hardy Kitching
Laurine De Spong

Arthur Hardy Kitching
Laurine De Spong
💍 1923/2889

Widower
Spinster

Shipping Manager

44
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 days
15 years

St. John's Church, Roslyn

2611

28 March 1923

W. A. R. Fitchett, Anglican

No	140
Date of Notice	28 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hardy Kitching	Laurine De Spong
	💍 1923/2889
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Manager
Age	44	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 days	15 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Roslyn
Folio	2611
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1923
Officiating Minister	W. A. R. Fitchett, Anglican

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).