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 2828

District of Timaru Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar F. 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

15 March 1923

Michael Rennie
Margaret Dillon

Michael Rennie
Margaret Dillon
💍 1923/2640

Bachelor
Spinster

Flour Mill Packerman
Dental Nurse

33
22

Timaru
Timaru

14 years
6 years

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

2360

15 March 1923

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	36
Date of Notice	15 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Rennie	Margaret Dillon
	💍 1923/2640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flour Mill Packerman	Dental Nurse
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	14 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	2360
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

16 March 1923

Joseph Robinson
Mary Elizabeth Dunnill

Joseph Robinson
Mary Elizabeth Dunnill
💍 1923/2641

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
20

Claremont
Glen-iti

23 years
3 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

2361

John Dunnill, Father

16 March 1923

Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	16 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Robinson	Mary Elizabeth Dunnill
	💍 1923/2641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Claremont	Glen-iti
Length of Residence	23 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	2361
Consent	John Dunnill, Father
Date of Certificate	16 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes, Presbyterian

19 March 1923

John Wallace
Annie Marion Buckle

John Wallace
Annie Marion Buckle
💍 1923/2642

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

33
35

Hunter
Timaru

3 years
8 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru

2362

19 March 1923

F. Duncan, Registrar

No	38
Date of Notice	19 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wallace	Annie Marion Buckle
	💍 1923/2642
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Hunter	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	8 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
Folio	2362
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1923
Officiating Minister	F. Duncan, Registrar

19 March 1923

Charles Shailes
Linnie Annie Rachel Hannigan

Charles Shailes
Linnie Annie Rachel Hannigan
💍 1923/2643

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Duties

25
21

Tycho, Timaru
Tycho, Timaru

2 months
2 months

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

2363

19 March 1923

Rev. H. W. Smith

No	39
Date of Notice	19 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Shailes	Linnie Annie Rachel Hannigan
	💍 1923/2643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Tycho, Timaru	Tycho, Timaru
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	2363
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Smith

22 March 1923

Henry Havelock Dobie
Eileen Adams

Henry Havelock Dobie
Eileen Adams
💍 1923/2644

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

25
24

Timaru
554 George Street, Dunedin

7 years
3 years

Strand House, Dunedin

2364

22 March 1923

Rev. G. H. Balfour, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	22 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Havelock Dobie	Eileen Adams
	💍 1923/2644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	554 George Street, Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Strand House, Dunedin
Folio	2364
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Balfour, 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).