Intentions to Marry, 1926 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840542, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 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.

1926g contains pages 2769-3198, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 3132

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1926

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

451

13 July 1926

James Murray Orr
Emily Henshaw Martin

James Murray Orr
Emily Henshaw Martin
💍 1926/5240

Widower (20 April 1924)
Widow (18 November 1924)

Retired Teacher

83
71

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. P. Christie, Steep Street, Dunedin

6062

13 July 1926

H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	451
Date of Notice	13 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Murray Orr	Emily Henshaw Martin
	💍 1926/5240
Condition	Widower (20 April 1924)	Widow (18 November 1924)
Profession	Retired Teacher
Age	83	71
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. P. Christie, Steep Street, Dunedin
Folio	6062
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1926
Officiating Minister	H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

452

13 July 1926

Archibald George Hassell
Hilda Irene George

Archibald George Hassell
Hilda Irene George
💍 1926/5241

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

27
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
28 years

Knox Church, Dunedin

6063

13 July 1926

T. Yuille, Presbyterian

No	452
Date of Notice	13 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald George Hassell	Hilda Irene George
	💍 1926/5241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	6063
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1926
Officiating Minister	T. Yuille, Presbyterian

453

14 July 1926

John Westmorland Robinson
Margaret Stewart Cook

John Westmorland Robinson
Margaret Stewart Cook
💍 1926/5242

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 months
2 years

Registrar's Office, Dunedin

6064

14 July 1926

Registrar

No	453
Date of Notice	14 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Westmorland Robinson	Margaret Stewart Cook
	💍 1926/5242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dunedin
Folio	6064
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Registrar

454

15 July 1926

Alma St. Paul Milne
Doreen Margaret Elliott

Alma St Paul Milne
Doreen Margaret Elliott
💍 1926/5243

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

19
17

Dunedin
Dunedin

19 years
9 years

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin

6065

M. Freed (Mother), D. T. Elliott (Mother)

15 July 1926

C. E. Tylee, Roman Catholic

No	454
Date of Notice	15 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alma St. Paul Milne	Doreen Margaret Elliott
BDM Match (97%)	Alma St Paul Milne	Doreen Margaret Elliott
	💍 1926/5243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	19 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin
Folio	6065
Consent	M. Freed (Mother), D. T. Elliott (Mother)
Date of Certificate	15 July 1926
Officiating Minister	C. E. Tylee, Roman Catholic

455

15 July 1926

Harold Gordon Kindley
Rachel Ellen Sinclair

Harold Gordon Kindley
Rachel Ellen Sinclair
💍 1926/5244

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

20
18

Dunedin
Waihola

18 years
18 years

Residence of Mr. J. Sinclair, Waihola

6066

A. B. Kindley (Father), J. Sinclair (Father)

15 July 1926

J. C. Harkness, Methodist

No	455
Date of Notice	15 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Gordon Kindley	Rachel Ellen Sinclair
	💍 1926/5244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Waihola
Length of Residence	18 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Sinclair, Waihola
Folio	6066
Consent	A. B. Kindley (Father), J. Sinclair (Father)
Date of Certificate	15 July 1926
Officiating Minister	J. C. Harkness, Methodist

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).