Intentions to Marry, 1924 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840526, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924g contains pages 2647-3074, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2923

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar A. W. Smith

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

2 January 1924

John Grendon Phillips
Margaret Stenhouse Reid

John Grendon Phillips
Margaret Stenhouse Reid
💍 1924/8403

Divorced (Decree Absolute 30/11/23)
Spinster

Company Manager

29
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 months
6 months

Residence of Rev. E. N. Merrington, 638 Cumberland Street, Dunedin

681

2 January 1924

E. N. Merrington, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Grendon Phillips	Margaret Stenhouse Reid
	💍 1924/8403
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 30/11/23)	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. E. N. Merrington, 638 Cumberland Street, Dunedin
Folio	681
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1924
Officiating Minister	E. N. Merrington, Presbyterian

3 January 1924

Robert George Gowie
Elizabeth Ann Gaines

Robert George Gowie
Elizabeth Ann Gaines
💍 1924/8112

Widower (14/6/1894)
Spinster

Wool Classer

51
49

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
9 years

St. Mary's Church, Mornington

680

3 January 1924

S. J. Cooper, Anglican

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Gowie	Elizabeth Ann Gaines
	💍 1924/8112
Condition	Widower (14/6/1894)	Spinster
Profession	Wool Classer
Age	51	49
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Mornington
Folio	680
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1924
Officiating Minister	S. J. Cooper, Anglican

3 January 1924

John Ingham Kellett
Violet Yvonne Needham

John Ingham Kellett
Violet Yvonne Needham
💍 1924/8114

Bachelor
Spinster

Musician

38
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 months
6 months

Residence of Mr. K. Stuart, 492 Castle Street, Dunedin

682

Issued under Section 27

17 January 1924

A. H. Wallace, Congregational

No	3
Date of Notice	3 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ingham Kellett	Violet Yvonne Needham
	💍 1924/8114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musician
Age	38	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. K. Stuart, 492 Castle Street, Dunedin
Folio	682
Consent	Issued under Section 27
Date of Certificate	17 January 1924
Officiating Minister	A. H. Wallace, Congregational

3 January 1924

Thomas James Metcalf
Ethel Irene Neave

Thomas James Metcalf
Ethel Irene Neave
💍 1924/8381

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey

27
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
5 years

St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin

683

3 January 1924

J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	3 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Metcalf	Ethel Irene Neave
	💍 1924/8381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Basilica, South Dunedin
Folio	683
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1924
Officiating Minister	J. P. Delany, Roman Catholic

3 January 1924

Tom David Stone
Lillias Barlow

Tom David Stone
Lillias Barlow
💍 1924/8115

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Cook

33
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 day
23 years

Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin

684

3 January 1924

R. Fairmaid, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	3 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom David Stone	Lillias Barlow
	💍 1924/8115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Cook
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 day	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin
Folio	684
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1924
Officiating Minister	R. Fairmaid, 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).