(Last Updated: 4/8/2017)
A true history of shorthand would take volumes, so the following is just an overview. I am skipping over ancient Roman shorthand (Tironian Notes), ancient Greek shorthand, as well as Medieval shorthand (1100 to 1588 AD).
Dr. Timothy Bright, a doctor turned clergyman, published “Characterie: An Arte of Shorte, Swifte and Secrete Writing by Character” in 1588 in England. His system was based on Roman shorthand and consisted of geometric letterforms which could be written in four positions. Each letterform position was assigned to an arbitrary word starting with the alphabet letter.
John Willis, a clergyman, is considered the father of modern shorthand. He published "Art of Stenographie" in 1602. He developed the first shorthand alphabet, the first method of vowel expression, called "Vowel Mode," and was the first to describe the phonetic nature of shorthand. Most, if not all, of the shorthand systems for the next 150 years (down to William Mason) will be improvements to John Willis' system. However, the alphabetic and phonetic nature of shorthand continues until the present.
John Willis shorthand system was improved by Edmond Willis (1627), Thomas Shelton (1638), Jeremiah Rich (1646), William Mason (1707), and Others between 1602 and 1707. Improvements included more simple alphabet signs, better vowel expression, etc. to speed writing. The biggest improvement was probably in vowel expression. With John and Edmond Wills, alphabet signs could be written above, below, left, or right of the preceding sign. Shelton improved this by eliminating writing to the left of a preceding sign, the least facile writing direction. However, writing still occurred above and below the preceding sign. Rich reduced the vowels to four and moved the vowel mode positions for horizontal signs more to the right of the sign. While this is more facile than Shelton's scheme, writing still occurred above and below the preceding sign. Mason reduced the vowels to three thus ending writing above and below the preceding sign.
In 1748 Thomas Gurney became the first official shorthand writer for the English government. He founded a reporting firm, Gurney & Sons, which would be the official shorthand reporters to the courts and Houses of Parliament for about 150 years. Gurney's system, Brachygraphy, was Mason's system made practical for reporting. He generally did not express medial vowels which enabled him to join many words into a single, continuous outline. The advantage is speed; the disadvantage is some ambiguity in reading.
John Byrom began a new era in the history of English shorthand starting in about 1720. Successive shorthand systems would build upon the foundation of Byrom’s system, not Mason or Gurney. However, Byrom’s system of shorthand would not be published until four years after his death in 1767.
Samuel Taylor created simpler alphabet in 1786 based on William Williamson's 1775 Stenography (and Williamson’s system was founded on Byrom’s). It contained no vowel expression except for strong vowels at the begin and end of words.
Sir Isaac Pitman, while trying to improve Taylor's system, created a new system on a phonetic foundation in 1837. This pure phonetic foundation concept, now also applied to vowels, was a major leap forward for shorthand. His Phonography would be adapted to over 30 languages, become the world's most widely used shorthand system, and largely influence scores of adaptations.
John Gregg did not like the thickening of signs, position writing, and disjoined vowels of Phonography and other shorthand systems. He created a system in 1888, Light-Line Phonography later called Gregg Shorthand, based on phonics and free of thickening and position writing. He used joined vowels from French shorthand and the elliptical writing motions of longhand writing (influenced from German shorthand). Gregg also arranged his alphabet so that the common consonant combinations (br, bl, pr, pl, nd, nt, etc.) would blend into a single curve; thus, eliminating award joinings. Gregg Shorthand became the most widely used shorthand in the USA after 1900.
Shorthand use declined in the field of court reporting after WWII when the stenotype gained popularity. In the business world, shorthand use declined with the introduction of the cassette Dictaphone in the 1970s and the personal computer in the 1980s.
Resources for The History of Shorthand
Short Overviews:
2. “Shorthand” Encyclopedia Britannica (1911, Vol. 24, pgs. 107-113)
3. “Shorthand.” The New International Encyclopedia. 1916.
Articles:
1. “Principles Hitherto Used in Shorthand” by Edward Pocknell
(1885)
2. “A Short History of Shorthand.” The National Stenographer. 1881. Volume 2.
Pages: 280 (Aug), 308 (Sept), 342 (Oct), 371 (Nov), 409 (Dec).
3. “History of Shorthand: A Select List of Shorthand Systems.”
The Shorthand Place
4. “A Critical and Historical Account of the Art of Shorthand.”
The National Stenographer. 1882-1883. 13 Parts: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun,
Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan 1883.
2. “A Short History of Shorthand.” The National Stenographer. 1881. Volume 2.
Pages: 280 (Aug), 308 (Sept), 342 (Oct), 371 (Nov), 409 (Dec).
3. “History of Shorthand: A Select List of Shorthand Systems.”
The Shorthand Place
4. “A Critical and Historical Account of the Art of Shorthand.”
The National Stenographer. 1882-1883. 13 Parts: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun,
Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan 1883.
Books:
1. The History of Shorthand by Thomas Anderson (1882)
2. A History of Shorthand by Isaac Pitman (1891)
3. The Story of British Shorthand by Edward H. Butler (1951)
1. The History of Shorthand by Thomas Anderson (1882)
2. A History of Shorthand by Isaac Pitman (1891)
3. The Story of British Shorthand by Edward H. Butler (1951)
