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Isaac Pitman | |
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| Born | (1813-01-04)4 January 1813 Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England |
| Died | 22 January 1897(1897-01-22) (aged 84) Bath, Somerset, England |
| Occupation(s) | Publisher, teacher |
| Known for | InventingPitman shorthand |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives |
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Sir Isaac Pitman (4 January 1813 – 22 January 1897)[1] was an English publisher and teacher of theEnglish language who developed the most widely used system ofshorthand, known now asPitman shorthand. He first proposed this inStenographic Soundhand in 1837. He was vice-president of theVegetarian Society. Pitman wasknighted byQueen Victoria in 1894.
Pitman was born inTrowbridge,Wiltshire in England. One of his cousins wasAbraham Laverton. In 1831 he had five months' training at the Training College of theBritish and Foreign School Society, which was sufficient to qualify him as a teacher. He started teaching atBarton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire. In 1835 he married a widow, and moved in 1836 toWotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, where he started his own school. In 1839 he moved toBath, where he opened a small school.[2]
In the 1851 census he appears inBath aged 38, living with his wife, Mary, aged 58, born inNewark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. He married Isabella Masters in 1861, and he appears in the 1871 census, aged 58, with his new wife Isabella, aged 46.[citation needed]
Pitman was a lifelong advocate ofspelling reform for the English language, producing many pamphlets during his lifetime on spelling reform. His motto was "time saved is life gained."[3]
One of the outcomes of his interest in spelling reform was the creation of his system of phonetic shorthand which he first published in 1837, in a pamphlet titledSound-Hand. Among the examples in this pamphlet, werePsalm 100, theLord's Prayer, andEmanuel Swedenborg'sRules of Life. By 1843, his business of preparing and publishing had expanded sufficiently for him to give up teaching and to set up his own printing press, as well as compositing and binding.[2] In 1844, he publishedPhonotypy, his major work on spelling reform. In 1845 he published the first version of theEnglish Phonotypic Alphabet.[4]
In the 1881 census, his name was spelled phonetically as Eisak Pitman. In the 1891 census he was again listed as Isaac, but his birthplace was changed to Bath.[citation needed]
In the 1860s, Pitman printed books for theBritish and Foreign Bible Society.
In 1886, he went into partnership with his sons Alfred and Ernest to form Isaac Pitman and Sons, later Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons.[5]
In the same year the millionth copy of the Phonographic Teacher was sold in Great Britain. Isaac Pitman and Sons was to become one of the world's leading educational publishers and training businesses with offices in London, Bath,New York City,Melbourne,Johannesburg,Toronto andTokyo. The publishing division, Pitman Ltd, was bought by rivalPearson Plc in 1985.[6] The training business evolved into two separate businesses:Pitman Training Group and JHP Training (now learndirect).
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The first distance education course in the modern sense was provided by Sir Isaac Pitman in the 1840s, who taught a system of shorthand by mailing texts transcribed into shorthand on postcards and receiving transcriptions from his students in return for correction. The element of student feedback was a crucial innovation of Pitman's system. This scheme was made possible by the introduction of uniform postage rates across Britain in 1840.
Isaac Pitman was ferventlySwedenborgian. Not only did he readThe Writings ofEmanuel Swedenborg daily, he also devoted much time and energy to educating the world about them. He published and distributed books and tracts by and about Swedenborg. Among the authors he encouraged wasThomas Child.[7]
Pitman was active in the localNew Church congregation in Bath while living onRoyal Crescent.[8] He was one of the founding members, when this congregation was formed in 1841. He served as president of this society from 1887 to his death in 1897. His contribution to this church was honoured by the congregation with astained glass window depicting the goldencherub in the temple of wisdom described in Swedenborg'sTrue Christian Religion No. 508.[9] The window was dedicated on 5 September 1909.
His memorial plaque on the north wall ofBath Abbey reads, "His aims were steadfast, his mind original, his work prodigious, the achievement world-wide. His life was ordered in service to God and duty to man."[10]
Pitman was the grandfather ofJames Pitman, who developed theInitial Teaching Alphabet. His grand-daughter,Honor Isabel Salmon (b.1912, née Pitman) was killed while piloting anAirspeed Oxford for theAir Transport Auxiliary in 1943.[11]
His great-grandson John Hugh Pitman was appointed an OBE in 2010 for services to vocational training.[citation needed]
In 1837, at the age of 34, Pitman discontinued the use of all alcoholic beverages and became avegetarian, both lifelong practices.[12] He also did not smoke.
Pitman advocated a simple vegetarian diet. He was Vice-President of theVegetarian Society.[13] In an 1879 letter toThe Times (London), he attributed his excellent health and his ability to work long hours to his vegetarian diet and abstinence from alcohol.[13] He commented that "I attribute my health and power of endurance to abstinence from flesh meat and alcoholic drinks. I can come to no other conclusion when I see the effect of such extended hours of labour on other men who eat meat and drink wine or beer".[14] His brotherBenjamin noted that Pitman "became a vegetarian, not for religious, but humanitarian and physiological reasons."[15]
The Pitman Vegetarian Hotel was named after Pitman.[16]
