Of the Ralphs whose literacy was recorded, 77% could both read and write, 4.2% could read but not write, and 18.5% could do neither. Men came out slightly ahead, 78.5% reading and writing against 75.5% 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.