Our history

The History of the Office for National Statistics

1086 First census in England and Wales carried out by William the Conqueror and published in the Domesday Book

1500s Elizabeth I carried out an early census by asking bishops to count the number of families in their dioceses

1600s James I (James VI of Scotland) asked bishops to provide numbers of families in the diocese to gauge the population.

1801 First regular population census for Great Britain held

1837 General Register Office (GRO) for England and Wales established

1841 First population census conducted by the General Register Office

1855 General Register Office (Scotland) established

1864 General Register Office (Ireland) established

1939 National register created for entire population and identity cards issued

1940 The Government Social Survey, which began as the Wartime Social Survey, created

1941 The only decade in which a census was not held since 1801

Central Statistical Office (CSO) established

1952 National Health Service Central Register formed from National Registration records

1968 Claus Moser, now Lord Moser, established the Government Statistical Service

1969 Business Statistics Office created

1970 General Register Office and Government Social Survey merged to create the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS)

1989 Business Statistics Office merged with the Central Statistical Office

1996 Office for National Statistics formed by merging CSO, OPCS and the statistics division of the Department of Employment

1997 Family Record Centre established at Myddelton Street, Islington

2000 Statistics Commission and 'National Statistics' established

2005 Announcement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of his intention to legislate for independence in statistics

2007 Bill introduced in Lords and Royal Assent given

2008 UK Statistics Authority established (Statistics Commission abolished)