At Surrey History Centre and in all Surrey Libraries, Surrey library members can search the census returns (which were taken every 10 years) for the years 1841 to 1921, as well as the 1939 Register, online and free of charge using Findmypast or Ancestry.
At Surrey History Centre we have microform copies of the detailed census enumerators' returns for the years 1841 to 1901 for the area of the present administrative county of Surrey, together with some fringe areas. We do not hold copies of the returns for all the outer London Boroughs. Some microform copies are also available in local history centres in Surrey libraries.
The censuses from 1801 to 1831 record summary information only. For our holdings see Search for archives or books held at Surrey History Centre
Population statistics derived from the censuses 1801 to 1991 are available at Surrey History Centre. These statistics do not give personal information or list information street by street, but are for large areas such as civil parishes, electoral wards and boroughs. The detailed and personal information given in census returns is confidential and "closed" to the public for 100 years.
The Census of Religious Worship, 1851, was the first and last official religious census on the mainland of Britain. Prompted in part by a concern that dissent was flourishing and Anglican attendance declining, in part by a Victorian passion for statistical dissection, the returns provide crucial evidence for numbers of sittings, congregational sizes, frequency of services, endowments and provision of Sunday Schools. The 1851 Religious Census for Surrey has been published by Surrey Record Society and can be viewed on the Archaeology Data Service (ADS) website.