Office for National Statistics and Predecessors: Census Returns: Correspondence,...

RG 19

1894-2020

This hybrid series contains both digital records and registered paper files.

Records within this series include correspondence and papers of the Registrar General and the Local Government Board on Censuses taken under the Census Acts 1900, 1910 and 1920, including information on local, special, imperial and foreign censuses. The earlier papers in this series consist mainly of correspondence between the Board and the Registrar General. Three files are of Local Government Board papers and include correspondence with the Registrar General and the London County Council. The later papers concern censuses taken under the 1920 Act, a permanent enactment requiring the Registrar General to make arrangements for taking a census in accordance with the Act, an Order in Council and the regulations made by the Minister of Health.

References for born-digital records are automatically generated and display a 'Z' after a forward slash, which distinguish them from traditional references allocated to paper and digitised records.

Some records in this collection have been subject to migration from Lotus Notes into SharePoint 2013, then into SharePoint Online. Some original file names have been lost in this process. Lotus Notes site pages each have a unique reference which consists of 32 alphanumeric components, e.g. 10D8E77C40F8009D80256D0A004A6206. Lotus Notes site pages can be identified as they will include only this alphanumeric reference and a PDF file extension, e.g. 10D8E77C40F8009D80256D0A004A6206.pdf. Lotus Notes site pages usually give the context to a number of associated files that were attached to messages or content in the site/page. Associated file names will include a matching 32 component alphanumeric reference, e.g. redfern_10D8E77C40F8009D80256D0A004A6206.pdf. Site pages are arranged in folders alongside any file attachments that have a matching reference. Further information is included in the description for each file.

Other papers on Census matters may be found in MH 19

Public Record(s)

English

• General Register Office, Registrar General, 1836-1970
• Office for National Statistics, Registrar General, 1996-1996
• Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, Registrar General, 1970-1996

1951 paper files and digital records

Open unless otherwise stated

From 2016 Office for National Statistics

From 1978 Office of Population Censuses and Surveys

Topics

Census

Local Government

Series is accruing.

Under the 1900 and 1910 Acts the Local Government Board was responsible for superintending the taking of the census and the Registrar General for issuing the forms and instructions and preparing reports and tables from the returns.

Under the 1920 Census Act, the duty for carrying out the Census rested solely with the Registrar General for England and Wales, whose office is now part of the Office for National Statistics (established 1996).

In 1970 the General Register Office (GRO) became part of the newly created Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS), with the Registrar General in overall charge. Until then it had had several statistical functions, including the conduct of population censuses and the production of annual population estimates; all these were moved elsewhere within the new organisation. The GRO then became a division within OPCS, headed by a Deputy Registrar General. Then in 1996 the OPCS, and therefore the GRO, became part of the newly created Office for National Statistics, and the office of Registrar General was merged with that of Head of the Government Statistical Service.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for the collection and publication of statistics related to the economy, population and society of the UK. The ONS files in this series cover the years 1996 onwards.