What about the other years you may ask?
There has been a census every ten years since 1801, excluding 1941.
However, only those that date from 1841 are of real value to the family historian.
The administration of the early census returns 1801-1831 was the responsibility of the Overseers of the Poor and the clergy.
Most of these early returns were unfortunately destroyed, although in some isolated instances they have been preserved.
The census returns for 1841 were the first to be kept and, as far as the general public is concerned, the information is released by the Public Record Office after a hundred years.
For example, the public were given access to the 1891 census returns on 1 January 1992.
The census was taken on the following dates:
