Sir Isaac Pitman (January 4 1813 – January 22 1897), knighted in 1894, developed the most widely used system of shorthand, known now as Pitman Shorthand. He first proposed this in Stenographic Soundhand in 1837. Pitman was a qualified teacher and taught at a private school he founded in Wotton-under-Edge. He was the vice-president of the Vegetarian Society. He was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire in England.

Isaac Pitman is the grandfather of Sir James Pitman, famous for developing the Initial Teaching Alphabet.

His memorial plaque on the north wall of Bath Abbey read ' His aims were stedfast, his mind original, his work prodigious, the achievement world-wide. His life, was ordered in service to God and duty to man.'

Quotes

• "Well-arranged time is the surest mark of a well-arranged mind."
• "I have no intention of becoming a shorthand author."

English inventors | Inventors of writing systems | English vegetarians | Natives of Wiltshire | 1813 births | 1897 deaths

Isaac Pitman | Isaac Pitman