Southwark communities: statistics

Have you ever wondered:

• who used to live in your house?

• what used to be on the site of your estate?

• how long Southwark has been home to black and minority ethnic communities?

The census lets you connect with your family and community by seeing them in their context: families as households, streets and neighbourhoods as collections of families.

Census information is available for you to explore and find out more about the life and times of your ancestors, and those who lived in your community in the past.

The information gathered by the census is an essential tool in gaining a greater understanding of:

• past populations
• the differences between neighbourhoods
• our social and cultural history
• re-tracing family connections

It can help to trace hard-to-reach relatives, and can help find additional branches of your family.

Researching your family history

Access the census from 1841 to 1901 for free at the Southwark archives.

You can also access census data online through Ancestry Library Edition. This allows you to search by name for family members, while our printed street indexes give you the information you need to find your home in past years. Access it for free on our public computers in all Southwark libraries. 

Useful links

• Greater London Authority analysis of the Census data on behalf of all London boroughs
• Census website
• Office of National Statistics 
• Read our research: Uncovering community: Chinese and Latin Americans in Southwark 
• Read our research: Families and hardship in new and established communities in Southwark