Of the McVerrys whose literacy was recorded, 52% could both read and write, 8% could read but not write, and 40% could do neither. Women came out slightly ahead, 57.1% reading and writing against 47.5% of men. 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.