This section provides an initial introduction to Census taking. It is adapted from material published as part of the Census Bi-centenary for a popular readership.
The 2001 Census was the twentieth full national Census of population. It marked 200 years since the first census in modern times was carried out in Great Britain.
Census taking in the ancient world
Governments of every era have recognised the need to collect information on their most valuable asset - their people. Slaves, peasants and serfs, nobles, clergymen and monarchs have all taken part in censuses.
The Babylonians and the Chinese held censuses mainly for military and taxation purposes. The Egyptians collected information on the population so that they could plan armies of people to build the pyramids and to redistribute land following the annual flooding of the Nile.
The Greeks and Romans held censuses of population many years before the birth of Christ. It was the five-yearly census ordered by Caesar Augustus which required every man in the Roman Empire to return to his place of origin, thus ensuring that Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus.
Domesday and beyond - censuses in Britain
The first thorough survey of England was in 1086 when William the Conqueror ordered the production of the Domesday Book. This detailed inventory of land and property was a massive undertaking at the time. It took many years to complete, and provides us with a remarkable picture of life in Norman Britain.
In Tudor and Stuart times, bishops were made responsible for counting the number of families in their diocese, but Britain was very reluctant to adopt the idea of a regular official census.
While Quebec held its first official Census in 1666, Iceland in 1703 and Sweden in 1749, Britain was slow to follow suit. Some churchgoers believed that any type of people count was sacrilegious. They quoted the notorious census ordered by King David in Biblical times which was interrupted by a terrible plague and never completed. Others said that a population count would reveal the nation's strengths and weaknesses to foreign enemies.
Towards the end of the 18th Century, however, it became increasingly obvious that there was little idea about the number of people living in Britain. Some said the population was rising, while others were sure it was falling.
Seeing sense in the Census
Opposition to an official census finally withered away after the famous demographer Thomas Malthus published his essay on the 'principle of population' in 1798. Malthus caused great concern by suggesting that population growth would soon outstrip supplies of food and other resources. Unable to support itself, Britain would be hit by famine, disease and other disasters.
Concerned at this alarmist view of the future, people began to see the need for a census. Parliament passed the Census Act in 1800 and the first official Census of England and Wales was on 10 March 1801.
Information was collected from every household by the Overseers of the Poor, aided by constables, tithingmen, headboroughs and other officers of the peace. The Act also applied to Scotland, where the responsibility for taking the count was placed on schoolmasters. In Ireland, the first modern census was taken 20 years later, in 1821.
The first official head count revealed that Great Britain's population at the time was 10 million. Previous estimates had varied between 8 million and 11 million. Information about every person in the land was processed by an army of clerks using nothing more than pens and paper. Technology did not make census taking simpler until 1911, when punch cards and mechanical sorting and counting machines were introduced. Computers were first used in the 1961 Census and now play an essential role.
The modern Census
The census taken in 1841 is widely regarded as the first truly modern census, when the first Registrar General of England and Wales, John Lister, was made responsible for organising the count. The task of counting was passed on to local officers of the newly created registration service.
For the first time the head of each household was given a form to fill in on behalf of everyone in the household on a certain day. This system has stood the test of time, and it still forms the basis of the method we use today.
In Scotland there was no local registration service until 1855. A separate Act in 1860 gave the Registrar General for Scotland responsibility for taking the 1861 Census. Prior to the passing of the Northern Ireland Census Act 1969, censuses in Northern Ireland were taken under the authority of separate Acts.
Since 1801 there has been a census every ten years except in 1941 during the Second World War. The basic principles of census taking remain the same, though new questions have been added and others have disappeared. Up until 1911 the Government needed to introduce a new Census Act for every census held. This was changed by the 1920 Census Act which made it possible for the Government to hold a census at any time, once Parliament has approved the necessary 'secondary' legislation which lays out the details of a particular Census, but no sooner than five years after the last census.
200 years of the Census
To celebrate the bicentenary of the Census in Britain, ONS, together with the National Archives, delved into the archives of census taking during the last two centuries to reveal stories and facts which reflected the great changes which had taken place.
It takes a local view of census taking since 1801, with a set of 'Area Monitors' containing Census statistics over the last 200 years, helping to paint a picture of the changes in your area - the numbers and types of people; the industries and jobs as well as some "did you know" thought provoking facts.
The Census forms of famous and notorious celebrities - actors, writers, scientists, politicians and reformers from census taking in the Nineteenth century including Queen Victoria, David Lloyd George, Charles Dickens and many more released, along with all other forms, as public records after 100 years of strict security - are featured in the 'Hall of Fame'.
All this and much more is available HERE.
Census News
This section provides an initial introduction to Census taking. It is adapted from material published as part of the 
