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From the back cover:

Shorthand dates back to the Romans.  

Modern shorthand dates to John Willis' 1602 "Art of Stenographie." Over the next 150 years, many authors improved the art of shorthand including Edmond Willis, Thomas Shelton, Jeremiah Rich, William Mason, Thomas Gurney, John Byrom, and Samuel Taylor.  

The pinnacle of shorthand improvement occurred in the 1800s with Sir Isaac Pitman's 1837 "Phonography" and Dr. John Robert Gregg's 1888 "Gregg Shorthand." 

This work reviews the influential shorthand authors and their systems since 1602.

To Labor Less and Accomplish More Part 1: A Brief History of English Shorthand

Dr. John Robert Gregg - Part 2 (Shorthand Part 17)

Liverpool--Birthplace of Gregg Shorthand

John, age twenty-six,  arrived in Boston three weeks later greeted by Rutherford and an acquaintance, Louis Pfeiffer.

Rutherford told John about the poor economic climate: closed businesses and high unemployment causing City Hall soup lines. The time to begin a shorthand campaign was bad because most stenographers were unemployed.

Like Liverpool and Manchester, John launched his shorthand campaign with posters, advertisements in local newspapers, and visiting school teachers. John lacked the funds to publish the full shorthand textbook, so he printed a thirty-six page booklet titled "Gregg Shorthand Part One: The Elements" in October 1893.

Students trickled in, but it did not cover John and Rutherford's expenses. Miss Smith from Salem enrolled for twelve Saturday lessons. Initial skepticism evolved into enthusiasm as the lessons progressed. At the twelfth lesson, Miss Smith revealed she taught Phonography for the Salem Commercial School. The lessons converted her, and she became the first American teacher to switch shorthand systems. Salem Commercial School switched to Gregg in 1894 and became the first school to adopt Gregg Shorthand.

John’s situation grew bleak. John recounted their dreams and scarce resources during the Christmas of 1893:

“As Christmas approached business dwindled to the vanishing point—you all know how students drop off at that time of year. Now, Christmas is the day of days in the old country, and Rutherford and I determined that we were going to do the best we could to have one good Christmas. We summed up our joint capital and found that it amounted to one dollar and thirty cents. There was no possibility of getting any more anywhere.

Late on Christmas morning, we walked down to a hotel—walked to save carfare—and had our dinner, after carefully estimating the cost from the bill of fare. I should like to have a transcript of our conversation that dinner. We drew a picture of the United States covered with schools teaching Gregg Shorthand, we pledged each other's health, we stood up and shook hands over it, and vowed to continue with this thing in which we believed with all our hearts and souls until we had relieved the young people the world over from the drudgery of learning the old systems.

In figuring over the meal, we had reserved ten cents for the carfare home—we had not thought of any supper. But the waiter helped me with my overcoat—and away went the ten cents. We trudged home through the snow, and then Rutherford, who had a wife and family in England, played "Home, Sweet Home" and other cheerful airs on an old organ until we almost wept. Then we went to bed sufficiently sad. That was our first Christmas Day, and I shall never forget it.”

John and Rutherford agreed changes were needed. Rutherford went to New York but had little success. Month after month, John ended up supporting him with the meager Boston school profits. John organized a lecture tour in cities around Boston.

Victor Frazee, Providence High School Commercial Department member, attended a free lecture. Impressed by the presentation, Frazee recommended Gregg Shorthand instruction at the school. Providence High School is the first public school to adopt Gregg Shorthand. The teaching results from Providence High School convinced many other high schools to adopt Gregg Shorthand.

Pfeiffer’s father, a doctor, believed in John and loaned him the money to move to Chicago, to print a supply of textbooks, and to start a campaign. He also provided John with business contacts. John moved to Chicago in Spring 1894 and used the Liverpool business model to promote Gregg Shorthand.

John regularly traveled, visited teachers, and answered a mountain of mail. He invited Thomas Scully to be his secretary in late 1897. John established the Gregg Publishing Company, and in April 1898 the company published a new textbook and worked on a phrase book and a dictionary.

John collected motivational quotes. While exchanging quotes with a Chicago newspaper, John met and fell in love with Maida Wasson, a columnist. They shared common interests, and she supported him. They married in the summer of 1899.

Mr. Brown, the owner of seven prominent private schools in Illinois, tested Gregg Shorthand with success. Gregg Shorthand teaching spread to all Brown's schools and to over a hundred schools in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri within six months.

Gregg Shorthand spread rapidly to many public and private schools after 1900.  The Chicago office school for the next decade became the model and set the standard. Business expansion forced John to delegate responsibility, and he cautiously chose assistants he trusted and showed an immense enthusiasm.

John opened a New York office  and moved there in 1907. He decided, for the first time in his life, to slow down. John visited and taught teachers during their summer recess, and vacationed during the winter.

Quest for the NSRA Speed Championship:
The Pitmanic writers pushed back. They sought to prove the best system through speed contests in the specialized and high-speed writing field of court reporting. The ultimate prize between the Pitmanic writers and the Gregg writers became the National Shorthand Reporters’ Association’s (NSRA) speed championship .

John studied courtroom vocabulary and devised outlines for common words and phrases. He published these in the 1907 The Gregg Reporter. John started a "Reporting Class" at the Chicago school in Fall 1908, and the championship quest began.

A turning point for Gregg writers came at the 5th International Shorthand Speed Contest in Washington, DC in 1910. Fred Gurtler, Charles Swem, and Salome Tarr won first, second, and third place in straight (non-legal) dictation. Swem had only eighteen months experience, and Tarr had less than two years experience.

At the 1911 NSRA speed championship, Charles Swem placed third and set a new accuracy record of 99.16% at 170 WPM. Governor Woodrow Wilson, impressed with Swem’s accuracy, invited nineteen year-old Swem to be his shorthand reporter during his 1912 presidency campaign. Swem worked as President Wilson’s personal shorthand writer for eight years from 1913 to 1921. He returned to NSRA speed championship training after Wilson’s Presidency.

Swem’s third place 1911 NSRA speed championship finish shocked Pitmanic writers who thought Gregg Shorthand was incapable of championship speed and accuracy. Nathan Bahrin, soon-to-be prominent Pitmanic writer, won the  NSRA speed championship from 1911 to 1914. The NSRA suspended the speed championship from 1915 to 1918 for WWI.

Albert Schneider, a twenty year-old Gregg writer, won the 1921 NSRA speed championship held at Niagara Falls, Ontario. He defeated two former Pitmanic speed champions and set an accuracy record for literary dictation: 99.6% at 175 WPM.

Swem placed second at the 1922 NSRA speed championship behind Nathan Behrin. Leslie won the Amateur’s Championship. Martin Dupraw, a sixteen year-old high school student, qualified for the speed championship. Dupraw is the only high school student ever to qualify for the NSRA speed championship.

Swem placed first at the 1923 NSRA speed championship. Gregg writers dominated the speed championship winning first, second (Schneider), and third place (Dupraw). Swem again placed first at the 1924 NSRA speed championship defeating the top Pitmanic writer, Nathan Behrin. Dupraw placed third.

Dupraw placed first at the 1925 NSRA speed championship topping Swem (second) and Behrin (third). Dupraw placed first at the 1926 NSRA speed championship. Dupraw placed first at the 1927 NSRA speed championship, and the contest rules gave him permanent possession of the championship cup. The NSRA suspended the speed championship until 1952. The era of pen and paper champions had past. All entrants for the 1952 speed contest were machine writers.

Later Years:
For the 40th Anniversary of Gregg Shorthand, John and Maida traveled to Liverpool. In John’s address, he spoke highly of Maida who was sick and unable to the celebration dinner:

“I gladly and gratefully acknowledge that I owe much of whatever success I have had to her. She has been beside me—not behind me—for the last twenty-nine years. From the moment we married success seemed to come my way. I attribute that very largely to her wise counsel, her sympathy in good times and in bad, and her admonitions.”

Maida died in London on June 28, 1928. John returned to the USA with her body, and a funeral service was held in New York.

Recognition and marriage highlighted 1930. John received an honorary Doctorate in Commercial Science from Boston University in June 1930. He married Janet Kinley on December 4, 1930. Two children were born to their union: Kate in 1932 and John Junior in 1935. John immersed himself in various charities and in the National Arts Club where he served twice as president during the 1930’s.

John Robert Gregg died of a heart attack on February 23, 1947.

After John’s death, Janet Gregg became the President of The Gregg Publishing Company for a year. In 1948, The McGraw-Hill Publishing Company bought the Gregg Publishing Company, and it became a division under McGraw-Hill.

Dr. John Robert Gregg - Part 1 (Shorthand Part 16)

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.

Sir Isaac Pitman - Part 2 (Shorthand Part 15)

Alfred, Isaac, and Ernest in 1889

Concurrent with the spread of Phonography, Isaac engaged himself with another cause. A cause he considered more important. A cause to which he devoted most of the Phonography profits: Spelling Reform.

In 1842, Isaac asked himself “should not the phonographic alphabet, so successful for writing, be employed in printing the English language?” From this time Isaac regarded Phonography mainly as an introduction to Spelling Reform.  Isaac was joined in 1843 by Mr. Alexander John Ellis (1814—1890), a distinguished scholar and phonetician. By the end of 1843, they had developed the first phonotypic alphabet.

They started printing material in phonotypic print. However, they continued to improve the alphabet until 1847. This alphabet became known as the "1847 Alphabet," and Pitman and Ellis announced in the Phonographic Journal the “Absolute Completion of the Phonotypic Alphabet." Mr. Ellis retired briefly from active participation in spelling reform in 1850 due to poor health. When he returned about a year later, Mr. Ellis did not reunite with Isaac Pitman. From 1843 to 1850, Mr. Ellis’ arguments in favor of spelling reform are considered the most convincing and are noted for their scholarship.

The early 1850's were very active for spelling reform. The construction of the phonetic printing alphabet was the subject of countless experiments. Isaac frequently stated spelling reform was for the simplification of reading that "the education of the poor" might be "rendered not only possible but easy." Isaac's plea in associated with Britain’s 1870 Education Act that provided education for all.

Mr. Ellis produced a spelling reform scheme called "Glossic" in 1871 that was "intended to be used concurrently with the existing English orthography in order to remedy some of its defects, without changing its form or detracting from its value." Glossic changed the direction of spelling reform, and from this point on many spelling reformers focused on changes using the existing Roman alphabet.

Spelling Reform never succeeded due to the following reasons:

1. The Spelling Reform advocates all agreed that English orthography needed to be reformed, but there were many proposed solutions. For example, there were fifty spelling reform schemes under consideration by the English Spelling Reform Association in 1880.
2. Opposition from those who didn’t want change—educators, including universities, and publishers of books and periodicals.
3. There is no official government body whose function it is to change English spelling. Appeals to the Government and a high profile meeting with the Lord President of the Council, Charles Gordon-Lennox (Duke of Richmond and Gordon), and Viscount Sandon in 1878 yielded NOTHING.

(Note: In the USA, The American National Education Association adopted twelve simplified spellings in 1898 of which two are still in use: "program" and "thru.")

In 1886, Isaac brought his two sons, Alfred and Ernest who had assisted him for some years, into the business and changed the name of the firm to “Isaac Pitman & Sons.” In 1890, the Government added shorthand to the Education Code, and now Phonography was extensively taught in elementary schools.

On May 21, 1894, Isaac received the following letter from the Prime Minister, the Earl of Rosebery:

“It is which great pleasure that I make the intimation to you that the Queen has been pleased to confer on you the honour of Knighthood. I have recommended this distinction on the ground of your great services to Stenography, and the immerse utility of that art. It was always a cherished hope of mine to obtain a recognition of these, which it is a sensible satisfaction to have realized.”

Before this time the honor of knighthood had been sparing bestowed for accomplishments in literature, science, or art. Isaac Pitman was knighted on July 18, 1894, at Windsor Castle by Queen Victoria.

Isaac retired shortly thereafter and conferred on his sons all the interests of his phonographic text and other works. His last public appearance was in June 1896, and by September he was confined to his house due to increasing weakness and ill health . Isaac Pitman died in Bath on January 22, 1897. Isaac’s remains were cremated, per his request, and placed in a bronze urn.


Resources

1. Dictionary of National Biography. 2nd Edition. Vol 22, pg 1138-40
2. A Biographical Sketch of Sir Isaac Pitman (1904)
3. The Life of Sir Isaac Pitman (1908)

Sir Isaac Pitman - Part 1 (Shorthand Part 14)

Sir Isaac Pitman (1813—1897) was born January 4, 1813, in Trowbridge, Wiltshire to Samuel Pitman and Maria Davis. Isaac was the third of eleven children. Isaac was educated in the town’s grammar school until age thirteen (1826) when he left the school due to its poor ventilation. His father hired a teacher, and Isaac spent the days working as a clerk in the counting-house woolen cloth factory where his father was a manager and the evenings in home schooling.

As a result of his studies, Isaac knew many words and their meanings but was unsure of their proper pronunciation. To correct this, he studied a book that would have a large influence on his life’s work: Walker’s Pronouncing Dictionary. He paid close attention to the author’s “Principles of English Pronunciation.”  Soon after Isaac’s first study of Walker’s dictionary he took up an interest in shorthand learning the William Harding adaptation of Samuel Taylor’s system.

His father decided Isaac should become a school teacher under the “British School” system that relied primarily on donations. In 1831, Isaac was sent to the British and Foreign School Society in London for five months of training. In January 1832, just after his nineteenth birthday, Isaac was sent to take charge as headmaster of Long’s School in Barton-on-Humber, North Lincolnshire.

Isaac first saw the Comprehensive Bible in October 1835. Isaac used the Reference Bible, issued by the Bible Society for his personal study. His thorough study of the Reference Bible discovered thirty-eight reference errors. He borrowed the Comprehensive Bible and found it to contain fifteen of the same errors. Isaac also wrote Samuel Bagster, the publisher of the Comprehensive Bible, about the errors. Isaac offered to read it through for free if supplied with a Comprehensive Bible.

Mr. Bagster sent Isaac a copy of the 1827 Comprehensive Bible, but also sent a second copy divided into seven portions. Each section was to be returned when read. Isaac calculated it would take him three years of daily effort to complete his review. Close to his estimate, Isaac finished in August 1838. His brother, Benn Pitman, estimated Isaac spent nearly 5,000 hours pouring over the Comprehensive Bible. Isaac’s work resulted in a lasting friendship with Mr. Bagster.

In January 1836, Isaac accepted the offer of a nonconformist school committee in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire to establish a school based on the “British School” system. After about a year, Isaac changed his religious beliefs to Swedenborgianism and lost his job. He then started his own private school and decided to include shorthand instruction. Isaac prepared a small and concise instructional manual on the Taylor system and sent the manuscript to Mr. Bagster to be published in April 1837. Before publication, however, Mr. Bagster sent the manuscript to a professional reporter for review. Within a few weeks, Isaac received the returned manuscript and the review:

“The system Mr. Pitman has sent to you [Mr. Bagster] is already in the market; now if he will compile a new system, I think you will be more likely to succeed in your object to popularize shorthand, there will be novelty about it.”

The returned manuscript combined with the recent experience of teaching his students shorthand set Isaac’s desire to improve upon Taylor’s system. However, it would be some time before Isaac developed the below phonetic arrangement of the vowels distinguished by light and dark dots and dashes and start down the path of developing a truly phonetic shorthand system.

The final alphabet would also contain consonant signs differentiated only by thickness (e.g., F and V have the same sign, but F is light and V is dark). The entire system is founded on Walker's principles of English pronunciation. Isaac call the system  “Stenographic Sound-Hand.” Isaac made no effort to promote his shorthand. Instead he spent his time improving the system.

In June 1839 Isaac moved to Bath, and made it his home for the rest of his life. He joined the city’s established Swedenborgian congregation and he started a private school.

Isaac timed the release of the Second Edition of his shorthand system, called "Phonography," with the beginning of the Penny Post in January 1840. While Phonography contained several important improvements and was compressed into a space of 8 inches by 6.5 inches, a “penny plate,” for mailing. Phonography was gratuitously distributed to schoolmasters throughout the UK.

A Third Edition of Phonography with a fuller explanation of the writing rules and intended for instruction was issued by the end of 1840. Isaac on the morning of December 23, 1840, walked about thirty miles over snow covered roads to Stroud carrying fifteen pounds literature and lectured on Phonography. The following day walked to Oxford, visited most of the colleges, and left copies of his Penny Plate and other literature.

During the Christmas and summer school vacations from 1840 to 1842, Isaac travelled to various cities lecturing and teaching Phonography. He was accompanied by Joseph Pitman in 1841 and by Benn Pitman in 1842.

Through their and the efforts of others Phonography rapidly spread, and in 1843 Isaac gave up his school and lecture tours in order to devote himself to the writing and printing of phonographic instruction books and other material in Bath. Isaac’s brothers continued to lecture and teach throughout the UK. Within a few years, local instructors, comprised mostly pupils of the traveling lectures, began teaching Phonography.

The Penny Post offered gratuitous correction and comments of their shorthand by mail, Isaac was answering thousands of letters by 1843. At the suggestion of Thomas Allen Reed, a traveling lecture, The Phonographic Correspondence Society was formed (renamed to the Phonetic Society in 1849). Members corrected the lessons of learners for free and members addresses are published in the Phonographic Journal, a shorthand periodical started by Isaac in 1842. The society ceased after 1893 with 5,098 members due to the many Pitman shorthand associations all over the UK. The Phonetic Society had served its purpose and was no longer needed.

The Ninth Edition of Phonography appeared in 1847. In 1855, Isaac began experimenting with a new vowel arrangement. He now believed the old vowel arrangement violated a fundamental principle of phonetic writing which he discovered in a work by Dr. R. G. Latham that states:

"Sounds within a determined degree of likeness be represented by signs within the determined degree of likeness; while sounds beyond a certain degree of likeness be represented by distinct and different signs, and that uniformly."

In 1857, Isaac published the Tenth Edition of Phonography with a new vowel arrangement without consulting Phonography writers or "phonographers."

The changes were passionately opposed by Mr. Reed (leader of the opposition) in the UK and Benn Pitman (leader of the opposition) in the USA (Benn immigrated to the USA in 1853). By the end of 1858, Mr. Reed reluctantly adopted the new vowel scale to bring agreement and harmony to phonographers. Benn continued to print the Ninth Edition without the vowel alteration which became known as the “Benn Pitman” system.


Go to Sir Isaac Pitman - Part 2


Resources

1. Dictionary of National Biography. 2nd Edition. Vol 22, pg 1138-40
2. A Biographical Sketch of Sir Isaac Pitman (1904)
3. The Life of Sir Isaac Pitman (1908)

Samuel Taylor (Shorthand Part 13)

Not much is known about the life of Samuel Taylor (1749—1811). His contemporaries were practically silent on his life, character, and work. And what we do know about Samuel Taylor mainly comes from his Stenography (1786), his book on fishing (Angling In All Its Branches, 1800), and a brief obituary published in the London Sun (1811).

Samuel Taylor was most likely born in 1749. A good part of his boyhood was spent in and about Shrewsbury, a town along the River Severn in Shropshire County. Between boyhood and about 1781, we only know Taylor’s shorthand system was the "result of many years application and practice."

Taylor began by desiring to master the best shorthand system. Not satisfied with any of them, he decides to develop his own system based on “more rational principles.” He examines more than forty works on shorthand, and just before he puts his new system into practice Taylor comes across an influential shorthand manuscript. The manuscript, without a doubt from shorthand experts, is the first edition of William Williamson Stenography published in 1775.

After examining Williamson’s Stenography, Taylor realizes his alphabet is wrong, forms a new alphabet, and improves the system—probably incorporating Williamson’s improvements—before sharing it with “the Public.”

How does Samuel Taylor share his new system? He goes on a fishing trip. Taylor combined business with pleasure in 1781 and 1782 when he took a fishing trip, “a tour to North Britain and Ireland.” As he travelled to the north of England, then to Scotland, and later to Ireland, Taylor fished, taught shorthand, and gathered testimonials.

Taylor’s book, An Essay Intended to Establish A Standard for an Universal System of Stenography, rapidly acquired popularity and was used extensively for the next sixty years. Not only was it an exceptional shorthand system but it had already taken root by years of teaching at Oxford and throughout the United Kingdom.

Samuel Taylor died in Westminster, London, and was buried in St. Margaret’s chapel yard, Westminster, on August 10, 1811.


An Essay Intended to Establish A Standard for an Universal System of Stenography (1786):
Sir Isaac Pitman stated “[Taylor’s] system is at least equal to Byrom’s in brevity, while it is simpler in its construction.” Taylor's system is based on William Williamson 1775 Stenography and Williamson’s system was founded on Byrom’s.

The Alphabet:

D, F/V, G/J, T and CH are written downwards. S and K/Q are written left to right. The loop for a looped sign may be written on either side to facilitate joining, but always written on the same end of the alphabet sign.

Vowels:
Taylor’s system has very limited vowel expression. Medial vowels were not expressed and only strong sounding and the beginning and ending of a word were expressed by a dot:

"A dot, thus (.) being the most simple mark that can be made, it is here appointed the representative of all the vowels, which are always omitted in the middle of a word, as also at the beginning or end, when they are silent, as then the consonants alone will sufficiently convey the sound of such words; but when a vowel sounds strong before or after any word, it is proper to express it by a dot, to denote that the word begins or ends with a vowel of a forcible sound."

Taylor took great care so that loops might be written on either side of his looped alphabet signs. This increases the speed at which his system might be written because joining by a loop is generally a more effective way of saving time than to join by an angle. Stenography contains two tables of how to properly join the various alphabet signs.

William Harding brought out an adaptation of Taylor’s system in 1823, Universal Stenography. In Harding adaption, like most Taylor adaptations, means are provided for the distinction of the vowels. Harding wrote the vowels using a dot in three vertical positions representing a, e, i, and a dash in two vertical positions representing o, u.

References:
1. Dictionary of National Biography. 2nd Edition. Vol 19, 464-5 (1908-1909)
2. Butler, Edward.  The Story of British Shorthand. 1951. Pgs 70-73.
3. Wright, Alexander. Samuel Taylor, Angler and Stenographer: Vol. 1. Willis-Byrom Club. 1904.
4. Taylor, Samuel. An Essay Intended to Establish A Standard for an Universal System of Stenography. 1786.

John Byrom (Shorthand Part 12)

John Byrom (1692—1763) was leap year baby born on February 29, 1692, near Manchester to a prosperous merchant. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1708. He received his B.A. in 1712 and M.A. in 1715. The development of his shorthand system started while he was in college. Robert Roffe in Stenographical Accidence, or Byrom’s System of Shorthand Made Easy (1813) states:

“The first occasion of Byrom’s turning his attention to the study of shorthand arose from his acquaintance with Mr. Sharpe at Trinity College, Cambridge. This gentleman’s father, at that time Archbishop of York, had recommended to his son to make himself master of shorthand as an art very useful and commodious. Incited by an authority so respectable, the two friends applied themselves to the study of the method then in vogue, but Mr. Byrom was so disgusted with the absurdity and awkwardness of its contrivances, that he soon threw it aside. Smitten, however, with the idea of an art so useful in life and so capable, in his opinion, of being brought to much greater perfection he consulted everything that could by procured, either in print or manuscript, which has been written on the subject; but finding them all, however, differing in trifling circumstances, equally arbitrary, inartificial, and defective in their first principles, he resolved no attempt a system of his own, upon a more natural, rational and philosophical plan. His system was completed as early as the year 1720.”

In 1716, he travelled to Montpelier, France and studied medicine and took up an interest in poetry. Byrom returned to London in 1718 without taking an M.D. degree, and declined an offer to practice medicine in Manchester. Thereafter, he was called “doctor” by his friends.

Byrom married his cousin, Elizabeth Byrom, on February 14, 1721. She was the daughter of Joseph Byrom, his father’s younger brother. The marriage did receive consent of her parents though the opposite has been alleged in some biographies.

Further, some biographies assert that Byrom’s marriage left him without support from the family estates or her parents and that he resorted to teaching shorthand as a means of income.  However, if we look at the facts a more reasonable explanation would be he had other means of supporting his wife and children and was attracted to teaching shorthand due to his interests.

Byrom first taught his shorthand in Manchester, and after success went to London. Once in London, his connections at Cambridge were helpful in introducing him to prominent members of society: Horace Walpole, Lord Conway, the Wesley brothers, Lord Chesterfield, the duke of Devonshire, Lord Camden, and others.

Shorthand probably secured his Fellowship to the Royal Society in March 1724—Sir Isaac Newton was the society’s president at the time.  Byrom also founded the first stenographic club, a Shorthand Society, for his shorthand system on February 28, 1726.

John Byrom had a serious rivalry with James Weston. The two often contested about the superiority of their respective system. Weston challenged Byrom to a writing contest with a 50 guineas to 1 that his system is as speedy or legible as Byrom’s. The contest never took place, though many shorthand histories state that the two did meet and Weston lost.  The main proof to the lack of a contest is Weston is still challenging Byrom in 1742 when Byrom has stopped is active involvement in shorthand (see following paragraph).

After the death of his older brother, Edward, in May 1740, Byrom inherited all of the family estates, and he lost interest in teaching and furthering shorthand. Byrom never published his system during the remainder of his life and instead enjoyed social and domestic life. On September 26, 1763, John Byrom died after a lingering illness.


1767 New Universal Shorthand:
John Byrom’s manuscripts were made into the New Universal Shorthand and published in 1767, four years after his death. The writing principles were:

1. A complete word must be written without taking off the pen.
2. The writing should by lineal—not rising above or sinking below two parallel lines without being crowded.
3. Abbreviations should expressed by alphabet letters and be founded on the properties of the language.
4. There should be no arbitrary marks or signs

The Alphabet:


Vowels:
The vowels, when expressed (i.e., initial or final vowels were generally expressed and the medial vowels omitted), were represented by a dot in written next to the consonant in five positions based on vowel spelling (single vowels) or nearest sound (e.g., A for ai, au, aw, and ay). Shorthand experts have noted that practically it is impossible to observe more than three positions: beginning, middle, and end.

For vertical and horizontal signs, if the dot was placed to the left or above the sign then the vowel occurred before the consonant. If the dot was placed to the right or below the sign, then the vowel occurred after the consonant.

Unfortunately for curved consonants, this vowel pattern did not continue. Instead A, E, and I are written above the consonant and O and U below the consonant when the vowel occurred before the consonant. The opposite was used when the vowel occurred after the consonant. A bit confusing to the learner to say the least. Later adapters used the consistent horizontal signs pattern for curved consonants.



References:

1. Dictionary of National Biography. 2nd Edition. (1908-1909). Vol 3, 581-4
2. Historical Account of the Rise and Fall of Shorthand by James Henry Lewis. 1816 
3. The History of Short-hand Writing by Matthias Levy. 1862
4. The Story of British Shorthand by Edward H. Butler. 1951. Pages 44 to 55.

Thomas Gurney and Family (Shorthand Part 11)

Thomas Gurney (1705—1770) was born into a large family on March 7, 1705, in Woburn, Bedfordshire. He was a descendant of Hugh de Gourney, a Norman baron who fought under William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

His initial contact with shorthand was accidental. Gurney desired a book on astrology and to acquire one bought a group of books. One of the books was William Mason’s La Plume Volante. He studied and applied himself to it, and at the age of sixteen began recording sermons.

Gurney moved to London in 1737 working as a clockmaker and watchmaker.  He also continued his shorthand by recording trails at the Old Bailey. According to his own statement (Brachygraphy, fourth edition, 1760), he was appointed shorthand writer to the Old Bailey Court in 1748 making Thomas Gurney the first official shorthand writer for the English government. Afterwards Gurney practiced in other courts and in the House of Commons as the first official Parliamentary recorder.

Thomas Gurney founded a reporting firm, Gurney & Sons, which would be the official shorthand reporters to the courts and Houses of Parliament for about 150 years. Thomas Gurney held his appointment at the Old Bailey until his death on June 22, 1770.

The firm Gurney & Sons would be family-run for five generations, 166 years. Leadership of the firm passed from Thomas Gurney to his son Joseph in 1770, to his son William Brodie in 1813, to his son Joseph in 1855, to his nephew William Henry Gurney-Salter in 1879, to his cousin William Gurney-Angus 1912. Leadership of the firm passed out of family hands in 1914 to Walter Hodgson.

1778 Brachygraphy:
Thomas Gurney's system, Brachygraphy, made Mason's La Plume Volante practical by removing most of the arbitrary characters and shortening rules. The system is relatively easy to learn, but for verbatim work it means a person needs to be rather dexterous because words must be spelled out.


Initial vowels were expressed by alphabet sign. Medial vowels were generally not expressed, but when expressed it was by “Vowel Mode” using Mason’s three positions based on spelling or best represented sound. Therefore, the three positions expressed short and long vowels and diphthongs. Final vowels were expressed by a dot in the Vowel Mode position. By omitting medial vowels, Gurney was able to join many words into a single, continuous outline. The advantage is speed, which he needed for verbatim reporting.  The disadvantage is ambiguity in reading.


References:

1. Dictionary of National Biography. 2nd Edition. (1908-1909). Vol 8, page 568.
2. The History of Short-hand Writing by Matthias Levy. 1862.
3. The Story of British Shorthand by Edward H. Butler. 1951. Pages 56-62, 198, and 199.
4. 1778 Brachygraphy

William Mason (Shorthand Part 10)

While little is known about the life of William Mason (fl. 1672-1709), a writing instructor and stenographer who lived in London. Virtually everything we know about Mason comes from his books, especially the preface of his La Plume Volante which reads:

“Having delighted in the art of shorthand from my youth, I practiced it for some time according to the various rules that were published by divers authors, before I attempted to compose any method of my own. The first book of this kind which I ventured into the world was entitled "A Pen Plucked from an Eagle's Wing," which was chiefly founded on Mr. Rich's scheme, whose shorthand at that time was very much in vogue: but the experience of a few years convinced me that his basis was too narrow, which induced me to betake myself to the study of a new foundation, upon which I built with better success. This new method I published under the title of "Art's Advancement," which has found no unkind treatment in the world, as appears by the considerable numbers that have been printed for more than twenty years together.  

Not yet content with the progress I had made in cultivating this art, I applied myself to the further improvement of it, and persuade myself that the method I now publish, which I taught in manuscript for fifteen years past, has brought it many degrees nearer to perfection than any that has yet been exposed to the world.”

William Mason learned shorthand as a youth, probably around 1659. In 1672 he published A Pen Plucked from an Eagle's Wing, a system based on Rich’s The Pen’s Dexterity. Dissatisfied with it, Mason developed a new system based on a “new foundation,” and published it as Art's Advancement in 1682.

Mason “applied [himself] to the further improvement” of his system and published a corrected and enlarged edition of Art's Advancement in 1687.  Not satisfied, he improved it further and started teaching the manuscript form of  La Plume Volante in 1692. Lastly, Mason published La Plume Volante in 1707.

1707 La Plume Volante:
Mason’s 1707 La Plume Volante ran through five editions. The Fifth Edition, “with the addition of the terms of the Law and much amended,” was published in 1719.



Vowel Expression:
Initial vowels were expressed by alphabet sign. Medial vowels were expressed by “Vowel Mode” using the following three positions based on spelling or best represented sound. Therefore, the three positions expressed short and long vowels and diphthongs. Final vowels were expressed by a dot in the Vowel Mode position.



Other:
The system had many “rules:” 17 terminative (suffix) rules, 25 rules of contraction, and abbreviating rules. The student needed to memorize 64 prepositions and suffixes as well as 423 arbitraries and symbols.


References:

1. Dictionary of National Biography. 2nd Edition. 1901, Vol. 12, Pages 1322.
2. The History of Short-hand Writing by Matthias Levy. 1862. Pages 50-2.
3. The Story of British Shorthand by Edward H. Butler. 1951. Pages 40, 57, 61, and 206.
4. “A Critical and Historical Account of the Art of Shorthand” The National Stenographer. Apr 1892.
5. La Plume Volante. (5th Ed, 1734).