Census Act 1920
United Kingdom legislation
The Census Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 41) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Providing for a census for Great Britain (or any subsidiary part of it), on a date to be fixed by Order in Council, it remains the primary legislation for the provision of the UK census in England, Scotland, and Wales. A minimum of five years is required between censuses.
Parts of the act
Power to direct taking of census.
Duty of Registrar-General to carry out census, and provision for expenses.
Regulations with respect to proceedings for taking census.
Preparation of reports and abstracts.
“Census Act 1920” enters the record as united Kingdom legislation. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Census, United and Kingdom can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Census Act 1920” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Census, United and Kingdom provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5058957. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1920.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Census Act 1920”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Census Act 1920 primary sources, Census Act 1920 archive and Census research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Census Act 1920” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.