Pitman, Isaac

Isaac (1813-1897), the English inventor of modern shorthand. He was a native of Wiltshire and was educated in London. In 1832 he became master of a school in Barton-on-Humber. Five years later he published his Stenographic Sound Hand, the basis of modern stenography. He also founded the Phonographic Journal, afterward known as the Phonetic Journal. One of his last contributions was a complete manual, known as The Shorthand Instructor for Commercial Schools. He was identified with a movement for the simplification of spelling, and is credited with having suggested to the British government the present method of collecting postage in the form of stamps instead of money. A brother, Benn Pitman, established a school of shorthand at Cincinnati in 1853.