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This bound volume is just one of ten containing returned census forms, statistical analysis, explanations of the census and a working index. The census is a unique record of Alderney society in 1940, just before the island was occupied by German military forces. With the imminent threat of occupation in June 1940 the people of Alderney agreed by a show of hands to evacuate to mainland Britain. In 1942 the Alderney Relief Committee began to prepare a census of the population at the time of the evacuation. Eventually it recorded the people of Alderney and their property together with its value. The census would thus help in planning their return to the island and also allow islanders to claim compensation for whatever had been destroyed or removed by the enemy. The war brought profound changes to the Alderney way of life so the census is an immensely valuable record of a past that was lost. It is, in effect, Alderney's own Doomsday Book, though in this case it was not compiled for the purpose of taxation but for restoration.