Article contents
Scope
1. Statistics Collected by the State
1.1 Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
1.2 Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
1.3 Recent Developments
Notes to Section 1
2. Statistics Collected by Faith Communities
2.1 Established Churches: Church of England
2.2 Established Churches: Wales and Scotland
2.3 Free Churches: General
2.4 Free Churches: Methodists
2.5 Free Churches: Baptists, Congregationalists and Quakers
2.6 Free Churches: Other Denominations
2.7 Roman Catholic Church: Before the Second World War
2.8 Roman Catholic Church: After the Second World War
2.9 Ecumenical Initiatives: National
2.10 Ecumenical Initiatives: International
2.11 Non-Christian Faiths: General
2.12 Non-Christian Faiths: Judaism
2.13 Irreligion
Notes to Section 2
3. Statistics Collected by Other Agencies
3.1 Social Investigators
3.2 Opinion Pollsters
3.3 Academic Researchers
3.4 Print and Broadcast Media
Notes to Section 3
4. Future Needs and Prospects for Religious Statistics
Notes to Section 4
Appendix 1
Select Bibliography of the Religious History of Modern Britain
General
Church of England
Free Churches
Roman Catholicism
Sects
Judaism
Islam
New Religious Movements
Irreligion
Wales
Scotland
Appendix 2
Recent Publications on the 1851 Religious Census of England and Wales
General Commentaries
Local Studies
Appendix 3
Contemporary Regional Studies of Religion as Social Capital in England and Wales
Appendix 4
Church of England Clergy Visitation Returns of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Primary Sources: Editions of Returns
Primary Sources: Editions of Specula
Secondary Sources: Visitation Process
Secondary Sources: Use of Returns
Appendix 5
Abraham Hume’s Contribution to Religious Statistics and Sociology
Appendix 6
Local Censuses of Church Attendance in Great Britain, 1881-82
Appendix 7
Newman Demographic Survey and Pastoral Research Centre
Appendix 8
John Highet’s Contribution to Scottish Religious Statistics
Appendix 9
Local Censuses of Church Attendance in Great Britain, 1901-12
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Local Censuses of Church Attendance in Great Britain, 1881-82
Abstracts and analyses of the results of the local censuses appear in the following sources:
The Nonconformist and Independent, 2 and 23 February and 9 March 1882.
The Newspaper Religious Census and its Lessons: A Summary of the Statistics of Attendance at Public Worship, Published Between October 1881 and April 1882, London: Society for the Liberation of Religion from State Patronage and Control, 1882.
Andrew Mearns, The Statistics of Attendance at Public Worship, as Published in England, Wales and Scotland by the Local Press Between October 1881 and February 1882, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1882.
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, pp. 99-108.
David Hugh McLeod, ‘Class, Community and Region: The Religious Geography of Nineteenth-Century England’, A Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain, 6, ed. Michael Hill, London: SCM Press, 1973, pp. 29-72.
Additionally, Howie (p. xxi) refers to a contemporary pamphlet by William Bruce on Church Attendance, giving details of the local censuses in Scotland in 1881, but no copy of this publication has yet been located.
A full list of the places surveyed, with details of published sources (if known), is tabulated below. This supersedes the appendix which appears in Religion, Reviews of United Kingdom Statistical Sources, Vol. 20, pp. 492-4.
Place |
Date
|
Conducted by/published source
|
England |
|
|
Accrington |
Morning only |
|
Barnsley |
1881, 20 November |
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, 24 November 1881; The Independent’s Religious Census of Sheffield, Rotherham, Chesterfield, Barnsley, Worksop and Retford Taken on Sunday, Nov. 20, 1881, Reprinted, with Corrections and Additions, from the ‘Sheffield and Rotherham Independent’, Sheffield: Leader & Sons, 1881, pp. 13-14 |
Barrow-in-Furness |
1881, 13 November |
Barrow Times, 19 November 1881 |
Basingstoke |
|
Basingstoke Standard |
Bath |
1881, 6 November |
Keene’s Bath Journal, 12 November 1881 |
Bath (villages around) |
1881, 20 November |
Keene’s Bath Journal |
Blisworth |
1881, 4 December |
Northamptonshire Guardian, 10 December 1881 |
Bolton |
1881, 4 December |
Bolton Weekly Journal, 10 December 1881 |
Bournemouth |
1882, January |
Bournemouth Visitors’ Directory, 4 February 1882 |
Bradford |
1881, 11 and 18 December |
Bradford Observer, 22 December 1881; Census of Public Worship in Bradford: Being Statistics of the Attendance at Religious Services in the Borough on Dec. 11 and Dec. 18, 1881, with Press and Pulpit Comments, Revised and Reprinted from ‘The Bradford Observer’, Bradford: Bradford Observer, 1882 |
Bradford-on-Avon |
1881, December |
Keene’s Bath Journal |
Bristol |
1881, 30 October |
Western Daily Press, 2 November 1881; James Fawckner Nicholls and John Taylor, Bristol Past and Present, 3 vol., Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, 1881-82, Vol. 2, pp. 305-8; Religious Census of Bristol, Reprinted from the Western Daily Press, Bristol: W. and F. Morgan, 1881 |
Burnley |
1881, 18 December |
Burnley Gazette |
Burslem |
1881, December |
Staffordshire Sentinel, 24 December 1881 |
Charlton Kings |
1882, 5 February |
Cheltenham Examiner |
Cheltenham |
1882, 29 January and 5 February |
Cheltenham Examiner |
Chesterfield |
1881, 20 November |
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, 24 November 1881; Derbyshire Courier, 26 November 1881; The Independent’s Religious Census of Sheffield, Rotherham, Chesterfield, Barnsley, Worksop and Retford Taken on Sunday, Nov. 20, 1881, Reprinted, with Corrections and Additions, from the ‘Sheffield and Rotherham Independent’, Sheffield: Leader & Sons, 1881, pp. 14-16 |
Chippenham |
1881, December |
Keene’s Bath Journal |
Christchurch |
1882 |
Christchurch Times, 11 February 1882 |
Colne |
1882, June |
Burnley Gazette, 1 July 1882 |
Corsham |
1881, December |
Keene’s Bath Journal |
Coventry |
1881, 4 December |
Coventry Herald and Free Press, 9 December 1881 |
Darlington |
1881, 18 December |
Northern Echo, 19 December 1881 |
Darwen |
1882, 19 February (churches) and 26 February (Sunday Schools) |
Darwen News, 25 February and 4 March 1882 |
Daventry |
1881, 4 December |
Northamptonshire Guardian, 10 December 1881 |
Derby |
1881, 18 December |
Derby and Derbyshire Gazette, 23 December 1881 |
Diss |
Evening only |
East Anglian Daily Times |
Donington |
1881, 4 December |
Spalding Free Press |
Douglas Egremont |
|
Whitehaven Free Press |
Forest of Dean |
|
Dean Forest Mercury |
Frome |
1881, December |
Keene’s Bath Journal |
Gateshead |
1881, 2 October (morning only) |
Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 5 October 1881 |
Gloucester |
1881, 13 November |
Gloucester Journal |
Gloucester |
1881 |
Gloucester Mercury |
Gosport |
1881, 18 December |
Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, 24 December 1881; Portsmouth Times, 21 December 1881 |
Halstead and Haverhill |
1882, January |
East Essex and Halstead Times, 21 January 1882 |
Hanley |
1881, December |
Staffordshire Sentinel, 24 December 1881 |
Hastings and St Leonards |
1881, 20 November |
Hastings and St Leonards Times, 26 November 1881 |
Holbeach |
1881, 4 December |
Spalding Free Press |
Hull |
1881, 27 November |
Hull News, 3 and 10 December 1881; Eastern Counties Herald, 8 December 1881 |
Ilkeston |
|
Ilkeston Advertiser |
Ipswich |
1881, 30 October (evening only) |
Ipswich Journal, 8 November 1881 |
Ipswich |
1881, 13 November |
Ipswich Free Press, 19 November 1881 |
Ipswich |
1881, 13 November (morning only ) |
East Anglian Daily News, 14-15 November 1881; Paul Antony Welsby, ‘Church and People in Victorian Ipswich’, Church Quarterly Review, Vol. 164, pp. 207-17 |
Kettering |
1881, 4 December |
Northamptonshire Guardian, 10 December 1881 |
Latchford |
|
Mid-Cheshire Examiner |
Leckhampton |
1882, 5 February |
Cheltenham Examiner |
Leicester |
1881, 20 November |
Leicester Daily Post; Leicester Daily Mercury, 23 November 1881 |
Liverpool |
1881, 16 October (morning) and 6 November (evening) |
Liverpool Daily Post, 17 October and 15 November 1881 |
London, City of |
1881, 1 May |
St James’ Gazette, 13 June 1881; ‘Census of Congregations of the City Churches and Chapels’, Journal of the Statistical Society, Vol. 44, 1881, pp. 596-601 |
Long Buckby |
1881, 4 December |
Northamptonshire Guardian, 10 December 1881 |
Long Sutton |
1881, 4 December |
Spalding Free Press |
Longton |
1881, December |
Staffordshire Sentinel, 24 December 1881 |
Lymm |
|
Mid-Cheshire Examiner |
Margate |
1882, 5 February |
Thanet Free Press |
Margate |
1882, 12 February |
Keble’s Margate & Ramsgate Gazette, 18 February 1882; Kentish Gazette, 21 February 1882 |
Melksham |
1881, December |
Keene’s Bath Journal |
Mexborough |
1881, 20 November |
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent |
Midsomer Norton |
|
Keene’s Bath Journal |
Nantwich |
|
|
Needham Market |
1881 |
East Anglian Daily Times |
Newcastle-under-Lyme |
1881, 18 December |
Staffordshire Sentinel, 24 December 1881; Newcastle Guardian |
Newcastle-upon-Tyne |
1881, 2 October (morning only) |
Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 5 October 1881 |
Newton and Earlestown |
|
Mid-Cheshire Examiner |
Northampton |
1881, 6 November |
Northamptonshire Guardian, 12 November 1881; Northampton Mercury, 12 November 1881; The 1851 Religious Census of Northamptonshire, ed. Graham S. Ward, Northampton: Northamptonshire Record Society, 2007, pp. 227-37 |
Nottingham |
1881, 4 December |
Nottingham and Midland Counties Daily Express, 8 December 1881 |
Nottingham |
1881, 4 December |
Nottingham Journal |
Padiham |
|
Burnley Gazette |
Peterborough |
1881, 11 December |
Peterborough Advertiser |
Pinchbeck |
1881, 4 December |
Spalding Free Press |
Portsmouth |
1881, 18 December |
Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, 24 December 1881 |
Portsmouth |
1881, 18 December |
Portsmouth Times, 21 December 1881 |
Prestbury |
1882, 5 February |
Cheltenham Examiner |
Retford |
1881, 20 November |
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, 24 November 1881; The Independent’s Religious Census of Sheffield, Rotherham, Chesterfield, Barnsley, Worksop and Retford Taken on Sunday, Nov. 20, 1881, Reprinted, with Corrections and Additions, from the ‘Sheffield and Rotherham Independent’, Sheffield: Leader & Sons, 1881, pp. 12-13; Retford, Worksop and Gainsburgh News, 26 November 1881 |
Rotherham |
1881, 20 November |
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, 24 November 1881; Sheffield Telegraph, 24 November 1881; The Independent’s Religious Census of Sheffield, Rotherham, Chesterfield, Barnsley, Worksop and Retford Taken on Sunday, Nov. 20, 1881, Reprinted, with Corrections and Additions, from the ‘Sheffield and Rotherham Independent’, Sheffield: Leader & Sons, 1881, pp. 9-12 |
Runcorn |
|
Warrington Guardian; Mid-Cheshire Examiner |
Scarborough |
1881, 4 December |
Scarborough Mercury |
Sheffield |
1881, 20 November |
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, 19, 24 and 26 November 1881; Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 24 November 1881; The Independent’s Religious Census of Sheffield, Rotherham, Chesterfield, Barnsley, Worksop and Retford Taken on Sunday, Nov. 20, 1881, Reprinted, with Corrections and Additions, from the ‘Sheffield and Rotherham Independent’, Sheffield: Leader & Sons, 1881. pp. 3-9; Edward Ralph Wickham, Church and People in an Industrial City, London: Lutterworth Press, 1957, pp. 275-80 |
Shepton Mallet |
1881, December |
Keene’s Bath Journal |
Southampton |
1881, 4 December |
Hampshire Independent, 10 December 1881 |
Southport and Birkdale |
1882, 17 September |
E. Bland, Annals of Southport and District: A Chronological History of North Meols, A.D. 1086 to 1886, Manchester: A. Heywood, [1888], p. 205 |
Spalding |
1881, 27 November |
Spalding Free Press |
Stockport |
1881, November (evening only) |
Cheshire County News |
Stockton-on-Tees |
1881, 27 November |
Stockton Herald |
Stoke-on-Trent |
181, December |
Staffordshire Sentinel, 24 December 1881 |
Surfleet |
1881, 4 December |
Spalding Free Press |
Swindon |
1882, 5 February |
Cheltenham Examiner |
Towcester |
1881, 4 December |
Northamptonshire Guardian, 10 December 1881 |
Trowbridge |
1881, 13 November |
Keene’s Bath Journal; Wiltshire Times |
Warrington |
1881, 6 November |
Mid-Cheshire Examiner; Warrington Examiner, 12 November 1881 |
Warrington (villages aroung) |
1881 |
Mid-Cheshire Examiner |
Wellingborough |
1881, 4 December |
Northamptonshire Guardian, 10 December 1881 |
Whitehaven |
1881, 4 December |
Whitehaven Free Press |
Widnes |
|
Mid-Cheshire Examiner; Warrington Guardian |
Wolverhampton |
1881, 6 November |
Wolverhampton Evening Star |
Worksop |
1881, 20 November |
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, 24 November 1881; The Independent’s Religious Census of Sheffield, Rotherham, Chesterfield, Barnsley, Worksop and Retford Taken on Sunday, Nov. 20, 1881, Reprinted, with Corrections and Additions, from the ‘Sheffield and Rotherham Independent’, Sheffield: Leader & Sons, 1881, p. 12; Retford, Worksop and Gainsburgh News, 26 November 1881 |
|
|
|
Wales |
|
|
Carnarvon |
|
|
Conway |
Evening only |
|
Corwen |
1881, November |
Wrexham Advertiser, 19 November 1881 |
Llanelli |
1881, 20 November (evening only) |
Llanelly Guardian, 17 November 1881; Western Mail, 25 November 1881 |
Newtown |
|
|
Wrexham |
1881, 4 December |
Wrexham Advertiser |
|
|
|
Scotland |
|
|
Abbotshall, Kirkcaldy, Dysart and Kinghorn |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Aberdour |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Arbroath |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 107 |
Ardrossan and Saltcoats |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 104 |
Ayr |
1881 (morning only) |
Ayrshire Post; Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 103 |
Bannockburn |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 107 |
Berwickshire |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Blairgowrie and Rattray |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Brechin |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 107 |
Broughty Ferry |
1881 (morning only) |
Dundee Advertiser; Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, pp. 101-2 |
Burntisland |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Bute |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 106 |
Carnbee |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Colinton |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 107 |
Cupar (Angus) |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Cupar (Fife) and Ceres |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Dundee |
1881 (morning only) |
Dundee Advertiser; Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, pp. 101-2 |
Dundonald, Troon, Dreghorn, Fenwick and Kilbirnie |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 105 |
Dunse |
1881 (morning only) |
|
Edinburgh |
1882, 8 January |
Edinburgh Daily Review, 24 January 1882; Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 107 |
Forfar |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 107 |
Glasgow |
1881 |
Glasgow United Evangelistic Association |
Glasgow |
1882, 15 January |
Glasgow Herald, 18 January 1882 |
Gourock |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 106 |
Greenock |
1881 |
Greenock Telegraph; Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 99 |
Hawick and Wilton |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Helensburgh |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 107 |
Inverness |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Kilmarnock, Riccarton and Kilmaurs |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 103 |
Kilwinning, Irvine, Stewarton and Dalry |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 104 |
Kirriemuir |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Largo |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Leith, Newhaven and Granton |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 107 |
Melrose and Galashiels |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Montrose |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 107 |
Newport |
1881 (morning only) |
Dundee Advertiser; Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, pp. 101-2 |
Paisley |
1881 (afternoon only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 99 |
Perth and Kinnoull |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 107 |
Row and Rosneath |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 107 |
St Andrews |
1881 (morning only) |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
St Ninians Scoonie |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Selkirk |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Torryburn |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
Wemyss |
1881 |
Robert Howie, The Churches and the Churchless in Scotland: Facts and Figures, Glasgow: David Bryce, 1893, p. 108 |
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