HC Deb 30 July 1954 vol 531 c117W
Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the number of civil servants employed by Central government in the years 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1945, 1950 and 1953.

Mr. Brooke

Civil Service manpower figures for the earlier years exist only to a limited extent and are not strictly comparable with current statistics. Subject to this, the best figures I can give are:

1900 … … 145,000
1910 … … 210,000
1st April, 1920 … … 380,963
1st April, 1930 … … 283,957
1st April, 1940 … … 454,745
1st April, 1945 … … 704,646
1st April, 1950 … … 684,799
1st April, 1953 … … 666,092

These figures include both temporary and established non-industrial, but not industrial staff. The figures for 1900 and 1910 are estimates only.