Were There Any Census Records Taken Before 1841 In The UK?

Yes, there were. It is commonly believed that the first UK census was in 1841 but a census has taken place in England and Wales every ten years since the year 1801. The only exception was 1941, when the second world war was in progress and no census was taken, apart from in a very few places.

In 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831 the government carried out censuses that covered the whole of England and Wales but that did not collect such detailed information on individuals as the later censuses did. The government wanted to know only the number of people in each area, their sex and age groups – they were not interested in their names or how they were related to each other.

Most of the original returns were also destroyed after the statistics had been extracted from them, so these early census records, or at least the ones that still exist, are of very limited use if you are tracing your family history.