The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online. The Great Britain Historical GIS Project has also produced digitised boundary data, which can be obtained from the UK Data Service Census Support service. Further information is available at census.ukdataservice.ac.uk There are five tables in this part of the Great Britain Historical Database :

Rd_pop holds population totals for all registration districts in England and Wales for each census from 1841 to 1911.

Pop_chan holds details of population changes between censuses for all registration districts in England and Wales for each inter-censal period from 1851-1861 to 1901-1911.

Age_sex holds the number of males and females in 5 year age groups for all registration districts in England and Wales for each census from 1851 to 1911, and for all local government districts for each census from 1921 to 1931.

Age_1901 holds a full transcript of the number of males and females in 5 year age groups for all registration districts in England and Wales for the 1901 census with greater detail for ages 13 to 20.

Rd_gaz converts the names of registration districts which appear in the database into the forms used in the GIS.

Rd_gis holds the names and counties of registration districts as they appear in the GIS, and is used for checking names and constructing rd_gaz.

Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

The Great Britain Historical GIS Project has also produced digitised boundary data, which can be obtained from the UK Data Service Census Support service. Further information is available at census.ukdataservice.ac.uk

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

The Great Britain Historical GIS Project has also produced digitised boundary data, which can be obtained from the UK Data Service Census Support service. Further information is available at census.ukdataservice.ac.uk

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online. These data were originally collected by the Censuses of Population for England and Wales, and for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and its collaborators. They form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales. The census gathered data on levels of educational attainment only from 1951. In 1951 and 1961, attainment was measured simply by the age at which a person's education was completed, rather than by the level of qualifications achieved. These data cover, broadly, the adult population, including many people who had completed their education decades before the relevant census, so the data are indicative of the general level of education of the workforce at the census date, but are a problematic guide to the performance of the education system at that date. The census reports also include cross-tabulations of age of education completion with current age, but not with the level of geographical detail of the transcribed tables. The 1951 data for England and Wales were computerised by Danny Dorling (now of Oxford University), as part of research funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Latest edition information:For the 2nd edition (June 2021), data for Scotland for 1951 and data for England & Wales and Scotland for 1961 have been added to the study.

Level of education of the adult or occupied population, measured by their age at termination of education.

Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

The British census reports generally cross-tabulated age against marital status as well as gender, but the transcriptions in the Great Britain Historical Database are generally limited to age and gender, enabling the construction of population pyramids. This dataset is a quite separate transcription limited to marital status, or "conjugal condition", and gender, held only for Scotland in 1931.

Latest edition information

For the second edition (August 2022), the data and documentation files were replaced with updated versions.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

The Great Britain Historical GIS Project has also produced digitised boundary data, which can be obtained from the UK Data Service Census Support service. Further information is available at census.ukdataservice.ac.uk

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

The Great Britain Historical GIS Project has also produced digitised boundary data, which can be obtained from the UK Data Service Census Support service. Further information is available at census.ukdataservice.ac.uk

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

The Great Britain Historical GIS Project has also produced digitised boundary data, which can be obtained from the UK Data Service Census Support service. Further information is available at census.ukdataservice.ac.uk

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These data were originally collected by the Censuses of Population for England and Wales, and for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and its collaborators.

In 1961, the Census of Population gathered data on housing tenure as well as density and amenities. The data in this study summarise the resulting tabulations, providing counts of numbers of households in each tenure type for all districts in Great Britain; the original tabulations also give counts by numbers of persons, and for some districts include cross-tabulations against numbers of rooms.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These data were originally collected by the Censuses of Population for England and Wales, and for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and its collaborators. They form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales.

The first census report to tabulate social class was 1951, but this collection also includes a table from the Registrar-General's 1931 Decennial Supplement which drew on census occupational data to tabulate social class by region. In 1961 and 1971 the census used a more detailed classification of Socio-Economic Groups, from which the five Social Classes are a simplification.

This is a new edition. Data from the Census of Scotland have been added for 1951, 1961 and 1971. Wherever possible, ID numbers have been added for counties and districts which match those used in the digital boundary data created by the GBH GIS, greatly simplifying mapping.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

Although these data come from the reports of the 1851 Census, they result not from the main household enumeration but from a separate survey of school attendance conducted on 31st March 1851. While modern census education statistics, from 1951 onwards, are concerned mainly with educational attainment, measured by either level of qualification achieved or age at termination of education, the 1851 data are concerned mainly with how schools were funded, and in particular the role of different religious denominations, which were very finely categorised. The only data concerning pupils are the numbers of female and male pupils on the attendance register of each category of school, except that for Scotland there are separate counts of the actual numbers of females and males in attendance on the census day.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These data were originally collected by the Censuses of Population for England and Wales, and for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project.

The 19th century censuses gathered data only on "occupations", meaning individuals' roles in the workplace, but the changing nature of work created a need for separate counts by "employer's business". The first such industry statistics resulted from the 1911 census, but the first data included here are from 1931. The 1931 data, unlike the later data, are tabulated by place of residence, as data on journeys to work were not gathered by that census.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These data were originally collected by the Censuses of Population for England and Wales, and for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and its collaborators.

The census has gathered data on "occupations", meaning individuals' roles in the workplace, since the first household enumeration in 1841, and this collection includes most of the published results. However, how the results were classified varied greatly: for 1841, there is simply an alphabetical list of individual occupations, in 1851 the most basic classification was into workers in animal, vegetable and minerals, and so on. Further, the more detailed the occupational classification used, space considerations tended to require a less detailed geography; or, sometimes, the use of an abridged classification for small towns and rural areas; or even different tables and classifications for men and for women. There are consequently multiple datasets for some years.

Latest edition information

For the second edition (October 2022), the data and documentation have been revised.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These data were originally published in the reports of the Registrar-General for England and Wales. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and its collaborators. They form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales.

This study mainly comprises data from the RG's Annual Reports, with some data from the Quarterly Returns. A very extensive transcription from the Decennial Supplements forms a separate study.

In this pre-1911 period, the main reporting units were approximately 630 Registration Districts, grouped into Registration Counties and subdivided into around 2,000 Registration sub-Districts.

Latest edition information

For the second edition (December 2022) the previous data and documentation files were replaced with new versions, and access conditions were changed from safeguarded to open access.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These data were originally collected by the Censuses of Population for England and Wales, and for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and its collaborators. They form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales.

The Census of Population first gathered data on housing "density", i.e. the number of persons in each household relative to the number of rooms, in 1891, although the first year included here is 1901. In 1891, over-crowding was defined as over 2 persons per room; by 1931 this threshold had dropped to 1.5 persons; and by 1961 to 1 person per room. Up to 1931, the data for each locality and date form a table of numbers of persons against numbers of rooms, and these transcriptions sometimes exclude the rows/columns for the very largest households (see the documentation for individual tables). From 1951 onwards, simpler tables simply list numbers of households in each density category (e.g. over 1 person per room and not more than 1.5 persons).

This is a new edition. Data have been added for 1911 and 1951. Wherever possible, ID numbers have been added for counties and districts which match those used in the digital boundary data created by the GBH GIS, greatly simplifying mapping.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These data were originally collected by the Censuses of Population for England and Wales, and for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and its collaborators. They form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales.

The census gathered data on levels of educational attainment only from 1951. In 1951 and 1961, attainment was measured simply by the age at which a person's education was completed, rather than by the level of qualifications achieved. These data cover, broadly, the adult population, including many people who had completed their education decades before the relevant census, so the data are indicative of the general level of education of the workforce at the census date, but are a problematic guide to the performance of the education system at that date. The census reports also include cross-tabulations of age of education completion with current age, but not with the level of geographical detail of the transcribed tables.

The 1951 data for England and Wales were computerised by Danny Dorling (now of Oxford University), as part of research funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Latest edition information:

For the 2nd edition (June 2021), data for Scotland for 1951 and data for England & Wales and Scotland for 1961 have been added to the study.

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