Census – 1851 religious census

On the night of 30th/31st March 1851, in addition to the population census, a separate census of Accommodation and Attendance at Worship was taken. This is generally referred to as the Religious Census of 1851. Although the figures abstracted from the religious census returns were published, the Scottish returns do not appear to survive, despite having been the object of several searches over the years. The content and accuracy of the published figures are discussed in A. L. Drummond and J. Bulloch, The Church in Victorian Scotland (Saint Andrew Press, 1975), pp.110-13. There are abstract figures, county by county, clearly from the original record, in James H. Dawson, The Abridged Statistical History of The Scottish Counties (Edinburgh, 1862) pp. xlviii-lii and pp. 249-60.