History of the census
The first
census in England & Wales was taken on 10 March 1801. It
was taken because there was great concern that population growth
would outstrip supplies of food and other resources. The country
needed a better idea of how many people were living in the country
so it could support itself appropriately. People begun to see the
need for a Census and in 1800 the first Census Act was passed by
Parliament.
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 been omitted.
More information on the history of the census is available from
the Office for National Statistics census history
website. From this website you can access census stories
from the past, a census history timeline and census history
facts.
Facts for Kent taken from past censuses can be read on the
quirky Kent census facts page.