History

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)