John Robert Gregg was born on June 17, 1867, to Robert Gregg and Margaret Johnson in Shantonagh, Ireland. He was the youngest of five children. Five years later, the family moved eight miles to Rockcorry.
On John's second day of school in August 1872, the schoolmaster caught John whispering to a fellow student, and the schoolmaster bashed the boys’ heads together. The impact damaged John's hearing, and John told no one fearing further punishment from his father. People, including family, thought John was slow-witted, and he became known as "poor John" of whom little could be expected.
Mr. Annesley, a family friend and journalist, visited in 1877. When he attended church with the family on Sunday, Mr. Annesley took out his notebook during the sermon and recorded it in Pitman’s Phonography. John recounted:
“I don’t suppose that anyone it the congregation had ever seen a shorthand reporter before. The young clergyman became exceedingly embarrassed and almost broke down in his sermon. When the services were over, the young clergyman rushed down to the lawn in front of the church and begged Mr. Annesley not to publish the sermon because he had taken it from some famous preacher of that time.”
The incident demonstrated the usefulness of shorthand, and Robert Gregg determined his children would all learn the art. The four older children tried to teach themselves Phonography, but all failed to master the theory and to proceed to speed building.
His father exempted “Poor John” from learning shorthand John decided to learn shorthand and prove he could acquire a skill his older and supposed smarter brothers and sister failed to achieve. John avoided Phonography and picked the slimmest textbook he found.
The textbook was Odell’s Shorthand, an adaptation of Samuel’s Taylor’s Stenography. John quickly mastered the system and became fascinated with shorthand. “I could teach myself shorthand because it didn’t involve hearing.” This great personal achievement went unnoticed by his parents and siblings.
The Gregg family moved to Glasgow, Scotland in 1878. The Gregg family was poor, and the children contributed to the family income. John's parents found him a job as an office boy at Mr. Ritchie’s law office. Mr. Ritchie’s frequent absences from his practice produced an irregular work load and gave John the majority of the day to educate himself and to pursue his personal interests. John spent his free work hours reading and his after work hours at the Mitchell library and at University of Glasgow’s free lectures.
By 1883, John saved enough money and bought Sloan-Duployan Phonography. John liked the joined vowels, but he was dissatisfied with Sloan’s adaptation though he considered it better than Odell’s Shorthand and Phonography. While obtaining a Sloan-Duployan Phonography textbook for a friend, John met Thomas Malone who recently moved to Glasgow and organized a Sloan-Duployan shorthand association. Malone asked John to join his shorthand association, but John explained he couldn't afford it. Malone saw John’s potential and waived the monthly fees.
John told Malone of his progress towards inventing a superior system and showed Malone experimental alphabets. They agreed to collaborate on a new system. Malone would publish and promote the new system. John would be acknowledged as part-author and share in the profits.
John and Malone drafted a textbook, and called the new system “Script.” Malone resigned from the Sloan-Duployan agency in September 1885. A month later, he copyrighted and printed the Script textbook that listed Malone as “Proprietor” with no indication of John as co-author.
Malone’s school changed to Script. He also found investors for the Script Phonography Company with himself as Chairman and John as unpaid Secretary.
John worked a new shorthand system, that later became Gregg Shorthand, during his free time at the Mr. Ritchie’s law office during 1886 and early 1887. As John finalized the alphabet, Fanny fell ill and died of tuberculosis in June 1887 at the age of twenty-seven . John, grieve stricken, could not think about shorthand and wrapped up his alphabet and notes.
John suggested he move to Liverpool where his brother, Sam, lived given the few students in Glasgow, Malone’s desire to spread Script, and John’s desire to improve his future. Malone agreed, and John moved to Liverpool, rented an inexpensive office, and immediately created interest in Script. He handed out leaflets, placed small ads in newspapers, and met with school teachers and journalists. Soon he enrolled students for night classes and sold textbooks.
The school thrived. In six months, John sold 1,800 textbooks, enrolled 100 students, and arranged the adoption of Script at some educational institutions. In Glasgow, Malone blamed rival system propaganda and his associates for lack of progress.
John’s connections in Glasgow warned him that Malone spent the Script Phonography Company’s capital. Malone sought to form a new company, become General Manager, and sell the Script copyright for £4,000 with of a major portion going to the General Manager.
John resigned from Script and Malone. He decide to promote his own shorthand. John copyrighted his alphabet at the British Museum on March 28, 1888. He wrote a twenty-eight page pamphlet titled “Light-Line Phonography,” borrowed money from his brother, Sam, and published the pamphlet on May 28, 1888.
John was successful with Light-Line in Liverpool even after Malone sued him for copyright infringement and lost. He opened an office in Manchester but student enrollment waned after the initial excitement and the public response to the marketing was sluggish. John’s outreach to schools included free instruction to teachers, but the usual response was “Pitman’s shorthand is unanimously declared to be the best system.”
John received bad news. North America agent, Frank Rutherford, planned to publish Light-Line Phonography in the USA and offered him a “small commission.” This troubled John. He intended an American expansion and could not afford to lose the copyright.
John concluded an American campaign required his person attention.
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