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IN ENGLAND, various population counts have taken place since the Domesday survey of 1086, but thereafter only on a local basis, such as the censuses for parts of the City of London for 1638 and 1695, held at the Corporation of London Record Office. The first national census taken in England, Scotland and Wales was in 1801. It was made in response to the threat of invasion by Napoleon and was designed mainly to ascertain how many men were available for conscription into the army. A debate had also been raging on and off for half a century as to whether the population was declining or, on the other hand, whether it could rise to an unsustainable level. The results showed a population of 8,893,000 in England and Wales. In 1811, largely because of more efficient enumeration, the number was much greater – 10,164,000 in England and Wales – triggering a genuine panic of a population explosion which would rapidly overwhelm the country.

Censuses have been taken every decade since then, except for 1941, when everyone was busy with the all-too-real threat of invasion from Germany. However, until 1841, in almost every instance, they remained mere head counts, although in some 750 happy cases enumerators chose to write down the names and sometimes even occupations (see here). From 1841 onwards, when the Registrar General was placed in charge of the system, Britain has had proper censuses listing everyone together by address, with ages and occupations. Because of secrecy legislation, they are not available for public searching for 100 years, so the most recent records available now are those of the 1901 census.