The preamble for the Modern British Surnames website states:

"This website is devoted to the resources available for the study of the distribution, incidence and statistical analysis of the surnames of Britain, mainly post 1837, and primarily as a mass phenomenon..."

The author makes the point:

"Sorry, but you will NOT find here information on the history or etymology of an individual surname..."

Some interesting statistics regarding many aspects of modern british surnames. Well worth spending some time on this site.

Updates:
2016-11-04 The original 'Modern British Surnames' is no more, but the Surname Studies is dedicated to the memory of the late Philip Dance, the creator of 'Modern British Surnames':

"This Surname Studies web site is dedicated to the memory of the late Philip Dance who created Modern British Surnames: a resource guide and was an enthusiastic proponent of the study of the distribution, incidence and statistical analysis of the surnames of Britain."