From 1801, a census was taken every 10 years in the UK and census returns are the main source of information on the village population.

Although a national census was taken in 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831, these records have not survived for most parishes. Hawksworth is lucky because although the census returns are not available, brief details of the number of inhabitants in the village were recorded by the vicar in the parish registers.  Detailed census returns for Hawksworth are available online for 1841 to 1921, as is the 1939 population listing.