It was described as the "first modern census" as it was the first to record information about every member of the household, and administered as a single event, under central control, rather than being devolved to a local level.

It formed the model for all subsequent UK censuses, although each went on to refine and expand the questions asked of householders.

A bill [as amended by the committee] for taking an account of the population of Great Britain; and of the parish-registers, and annual value of assessable property in England' progressed through Parliament.

[10] One of the intentions was to avoid omissions and double counting by taking the census at the same time across the whole country and collecting the data as quickly as possible.

[10] The Population Act 1840 created an offence of refusing to answer a census question, or providing false information.

In Scotland, the civil registration of birth marriages, and death had not started, so the schedules were countersigned by a schoolmaster, or somebody with a similar status.

[10] The payment of the expenses for completing the census was delegated, in England, to the Justices of the Peace, who were to finance it through the poor rates, and in Scotland, to the Sheriff Deputies, or in Edinburgh or Glasgow, the Provost of the Royal Burghs.

[14][15] Very few census records for Ireland prior to 1901 survive due to the fire at the Irish Public Office on 30 June 1922.