Of the Colwells whose literacy was recorded, 71.7% could both read and write, 6.1% could read but not write, and 22.2% could do neither. Men came out slightly ahead, 74.5% reading and writing against 69.2% of women. Bear in mind these figures include young children; the census itself only counted people aged nine and over when calculating illiteracy, on the grounds that it was unfair to label a child illiterate before they'd had a chance to learn.