An Essay on the Principle of Population
The first census of England had been carried out by William I and published in the Domesday Book in 1086. Various other censuses had taken place, such as that in the sixteenth century, in which bishops were asked to count the number of families in their dioceses. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, there were several proposals for a Census Bill and a growing concern about the population of Britain and its demand for food, particularly fuelled by the publication, in 1798 of Thomas Robert Malthus's "An Essay on the Principle of Population". The Census Bill was presented to Parliament on 20 November 1800, passed on 3 December and received Royal Assent on 31 December. The first census was held on Tuesday 10 March 1801.