This booklet was compiled by members of the Devon Family History Society in co-operation with the Devon Records Office. The booklet provides an extract of some information and further details may be obtained from the Devon Records Office. Family historians are skilled at using the census returns from 1841 to 1901 for their research, but many people do not realise that there some surviving earlier censuses which, although providing less information, can often be just as useful. This census for Clyst St George is a little note-book kept by the enumerator in May 1821. He entered in it the names of the members of every household, dividing them into columns for males and females to make it easier to add up population figures. He noted the employment of the head of the household because he had to submit figures for trades and occupations and he also noted ages because he had to work out the numbers of the population in ten year age bands. Once he had visited every household and written down these details, he compiled his statistics from them and noted them at the end of his book before completing the official form which had to be sent to London. The book was stored with the rest of the parish records in Clyst St George church. It must have been used for reference by the parish officers because someone has made a note by people’s names if they had died or left the parish and at the back of the book is a list of the names of those who moved into the parish after the census was taken. Although no relationships are given to connect each person to the head of the household, this little note-book contains lots of information for the historian. It is unusual to have complete lists of all the inhabitants of the parish at this early date, especially as accurate ages are given, information which is not available generally until the census of 1851.