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 2834

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar J. 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

11 May 1923

Ernest Lionel Bunt
Lottie Henderson

Ernest Lionel Bunt
Lottie Henderson
💍 1923/9340

Bachelor
Spinster

Perambulator Manufacturer
Domestic

37
28

Timaru
Timaru

15 years
9 years

Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru

4905

11 May 1923

Rev. Adam Begg, Presbyterian

No	60
Date of Notice	11 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Lionel Bunt	Lottie Henderson
	💍 1923/9340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Perambulator Manufacturer	Domestic
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	15 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Highfield Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	4905
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Adam Begg, Presbyterian

11 May 1923

John Robertson
Eileen Florence Standage

John Robertson
Eileen Florence Standage
💍 1923/9341

Bachelor
Spinster

Retired Farmer
Domestic Duties

59
32

Timaru
Timaru

3 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. B. H. Standage, Highfield, Timaru

4906

11 May 1923

Rev. A. B. W. Standage, Presbyterian

No	61
Date of Notice	11 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Robertson	Eileen Florence Standage
	💍 1923/9341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Retired Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	59	32
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. B. H. Standage, Highfield, Timaru
Folio	4906
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. W. Standage, Presbyterian

12 May 1923

Charles Brauford
Julia McLoughlin

Charles Crawford
Julia McLoughlin
💍 1923/9342

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

31
31

Timaru
Timaru

-
8 months

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

4907

12 May 1923

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	62
Date of Notice	12 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Brauford	Julia McLoughlin
BDM Match (94%)	Charles Crawford	Julia McLoughlin
	💍 1923/9342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	-	8 months
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	4907
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

14 May 1923

Leonard Graham
Nellie Ryan

Leonard Graham
Nellie Ryan
💍 1923/9343

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Domestic Duties

29
31

Ashburton
Timaru

1 week
9 years

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

4908

14 May 1923

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	63
Date of Notice	14 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Graham	Nellie Ryan
	💍 1923/9343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Timaru
Length of Residence	1 week	9 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	4908
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

15 May 1923

William Borthwick Telford
Helen Phyllis Don

William Borthwick Telford
Helen Phyllis Don
💍 1923/9344

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

28
27

Timaru
Timaru

2 days
3 days

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

4909

15 May 1923

Rev. H. W. Smith, Anglican

No	64
Date of Notice	15 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Borthwick Telford	Helen Phyllis Don
	💍 1923/9344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	2 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	4909
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Smith, 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).