Colin started by saying that census was a bit of a misnomer; as over time there have been many lists of names recorded by a variety of agencies.
Who recorded these lists and why?
• The Monarch or the Government, usually for raising money or for loyalty purposes
• The Established Church, for raising money, for attendances or for pastoral care
• Manorial Lords, to confirm tenancies, fines, available labour etc.
• Associations, list of members and subscriptions.
• Individuals, for academic exchanges, personal interest and sometimes financial gain.
These lists could be countrywide, countywide, or just by Boroughs or districts, parishes or townships.
We were then given lots of examples. The earliest list of names was 1250BC in the book of numbers in the Bible! The Romans were recording censuses in the lands they occupied. However for us as family historians the Domesday Book is probably the earliest record.
From the 11th to the14th centuries there were many returns relating to taxation, one of the earliest being the Saladin Tithe of 1188 to raise money for the liberation of Jerusalem after it’s capture by the Moors. The most common were the Lay Subsidies and while not annual they were regular. Held by The National Archives they are not easy to read but luckily many have been transcribed. Kent Archaeological society have published a transcript of: The Kent Lay Subsidy Roll of 1334/5 on their website
The first Poll tax was in 1377 and was repeated in 1379 and 1381. The most complete one was in 1377 because it was not announced in advance therefore people couldn’t avoid it!
From the 15th century Easter books were kept by Clergymen. As they were entitled to keep the collection on Easter Sunday they wanted to know who attended. Those from Margate for1747,1748 and 1750 still exist.
Military lists are a good source of data for us, good examples are the Muster lists. Some of these have been transcribed.
The first true census was in Coventry in 1523. From then onwards lists were much more common and have survived in several cases. Through the 17th and 18th centuries more and more taxes appear and the Electoral registers survive from this period.
1770 onwards there are some early censuses and from 1800 there were some decennial ones although these often only gave the name of the head of the family with an indication of how many were in the household. Availablity county by county is listed on Family History website Pre1841 Census Records
If anyone wants more detailed lists then Colin’s book Pre-841 Censuses and Population Listings in the British Isles is a good place to start
Report by Sheila Harris