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 2816

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 1924 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

4 July 1924

Cyril Norman Douglas Karton
Elma Annie Price

Cyril Norman Douglas Karton
Elma Annie Price
💍 1924/5608

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic

26
20

Timaru
Timaru

Life
4 years

Residence of Mr. J. L. Price, 17 Walthy Avenue, Timaru

7474

John Lewis Price, father

4 July 1924

Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

No	80
Date of Notice	4 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Norman Douglas Karton	Elma Annie Price
	💍 1924/5608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	Life	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. L. Price, 17 Walthy Avenue, Timaru
Folio	7474
Consent	John Lewis Price, father
Date of Certificate	4 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Odell, Methodist

4 July 1924

Raymond Peirce Luke
Ethel May Sinclair

Raymond Pierce Luke
Ethel May Sinclair
💍 1924/5619

Widower
Spinster

Railway Shunter
Domestic

31
21

Timaru
Timaru

14 years
3 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru

7475

4 July 1924

F. Duncan, Registrar

No	81
Date of Notice	4 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Peirce Luke	Ethel May Sinclair
BDM Match (95%)	Raymond Pierce Luke	Ethel May Sinclair
	💍 1924/5619
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Railway Shunter	Domestic
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	14 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
Folio	7475
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1924
Officiating Minister	F. Duncan, Registrar

8 July 1924

James Mcbonnochie
Elsie Margaret Gaudin

James McConnochie
Elsie Margaret Gandin
💍 1924/5626

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
24

Timaru
Timaru

6 months
5 months

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru

7476

8 July 1924

Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

No	82
Date of Notice	8 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mcbonnochie	Elsie Margaret Gaudin
BDM Match (95%)	James McConnochie	Elsie Margaret Gandin
	💍 1924/5626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	6 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	7476
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley, Roman Catholic

18 July 1924

Thomas Francis Northcote
Frances Vera Hope

Thomas Francis Northcote
Frances Vera Hope
💍 1924/5627

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
None

30
26

Highfield, Wairau
Gleniti

22 years
14 years

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru

7477

18 July 1924

Ven. Arch. J. A. Julius, Anglican

No	83
Date of Notice	18 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Francis Northcote	Frances Vera Hope
	💍 1924/5627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	None
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Highfield, Wairau	Gleniti
Length of Residence	22 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru
Folio	7477
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. J. A. Julius, Anglican

21 July 1924

James Arthur Nichol
Emma Jane Matthews

James Arthur Nichol
Emma Jane Matthews
💍 1924/5628

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Domestic Duties

31
38

Timaru
Timaru

5 months
4 1/2 years

Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru

7478

21 July 1924

Rev. P. G. Hughes

No	84
Date of Notice	21 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Arthur Nichol	Emma Jane Matthews
	💍 1924/5628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Domestic Duties
Age	31	38
Dwelling Place	Timaru	Timaru
Length of Residence	5 months	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Timaru
Folio	7478
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Hughes

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).