Sir Isaac Pitman (4 January 1813 – 12 January 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 also the vice president of the Vegetarian Society.
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He was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire in England. In the 1851 census he appears in Bath aged 38, living with his wife, Mary, aged 58, born in Newark-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. In the 1881 census he is listed as Eisak Pitman – given his occupation, the phonetic spelling is interesting. In the 1891 census he is again listed as Isaac, but his birthplace has moved to Bath.
Isaac Pitman was fervently Swedenborgian. Not only did he read The Writings of Emanuel 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.
In 1837 Isaac Pitman first published his system of phonetic shorthand, in a pamphlet entitled Sound-Hand. Among the examples in this pamphlet, were the Psalm 100, the Lord's Prayer, and Swedenborg's Rules of Life.
Pitman was active in the local New Church congregation in Bath while living on Royal Crescent.[1] 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 a stained glass window depicting the golden cherub in the temple of wisdom described in Swedenborg's True Christian Religion No. 508.[2] The window was dedicated on 5 September 1909.
His memorial plaque on the north wall of Bath 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."
In about 1837 Pitman discontinued the use of all alcoholic beverages, and in about 1838 he became a vegetarian – both lifelong practices to which, in a famous letter to The Times (London), he attributed his lifelong excellent health and his ability to work long hours.
Pitman founded a company called Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, which became a one of the world's leading educational publishers and training businesses. The publishing division was bought by rival Pearson Plc in 1985. The training business evolved into two separate businesses: Pitman Training and JHP Training.
Isaac Pitman is the grandfather of Sir James Pitman, who developed the Initial Teaching Alphabet.