Of the McBriars whose literacy was recorded, 82.6% could both read and write, 4.3% could read but not write, and 13% could do neither. Men came out slightly ahead, 85.4% reading and writing against 80.4% 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.