When was the first Census in Britain?

The earliest census in Britain was a 7th Century Gaelic document produced in Scotland called 'Senchus fer n'Alba'. The Domesday Book of 1086 could be considered the first English census but it was not a census of the population. Rather it was primarily a survey of land and resources; who owned what and where. The main purpose was to establish the extent of taxes that William the Conqueror could raise. The Domesday Book does not give us an accurate calculation of the population in 1086 for a number of reasons. Only heads of households were included, major cities such as London and Winchester were omitted, as were people in castles, monasteries and nunneries.

The first official census was conducted in Britain in 1801. This was still much later than in Quebec (1666), Iceland (1703) and Sweden (1749). The first modern census, as we would recognise it today, was taken in Britain in 1841.