Introduction

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PART 1 Census reports

1.1 Introduction

Tabulations

Abstracts of Answers and Returns ordered by Parliament to be printed after the first census consisted entirely of tables compiled from information given on the forms completed by the enumerators. The Abstracts of the second> and third> censuses were prefaced by preliminary observations in which changes in scope and in method were described, the results appraised and summary tables presented. As the scope of the census widened the task of preparing the tables became more lengthy. The practice of publishing first results in advance of the more detailed reports began in 1811 when populations enumerated at the census of that year were shown in parallel columns with those of the first enumeration. The Comparative Account of the Population of Great Britain, 1801, 1811, 1821, 1831 contained (facing p. 12) the interesting coloured map of the Metropolis. A useful precedent, which has not always been followed, was set by the publication of an Index to the Names of Places at the end of the second volume of the Enumeration Abstract of 1831.

Series of reports on the censuses taken in Scotland since 1861 have consistently followed the method adopted in 1851 when commentary and tables on particular aspects of enquiry were comprised in the same volume.

With important exceptions, critical commentary on the results of each census taken in England and Wales from 1861 has been given in the General Report . Notable exceptions include the reports on the census of 1911, each of which gave an historical account of the information obtained at previous censuses on the subject to which it related. The format of the reports remained unchanged throughout the period under review except in the case of three volumes which were no doubt printed in octavo in order to distinguish them from the main series; they were Religious Worship in England and Wales , Education in England and Wales and Religious Worship and Education in Scotland in which the results of voluntary enquiries made in 1851 were published, with year of publication. A list of census reports will be found below.

[The remainder of this part of the Guide to Census Reports was a complete list of all census reports, but just click here for our own version.]

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