Sir Isaac Pitman was a teacher of the English language who developed the most widely used system of shorthand, known now as Pitman shorthand. He first proposed this in Stenographic Soundhand in 1837. He was also the vice-president of the Vegetarian Society. Pitman was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1894.
Isaac Pitman
Memorial plaque of Isaac Pitman in Bath Abbey
Stamp issued to mark the centenary of Pitman's birth.
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos (narrow) and graphein. It has also been called brachygraphy, from Greek brachys (short), and tachygraphy, from Greek tachys, depending on whether compression or speed of writing is the goal.
Dutch stenography using the "System Groote"
Sun Guoting's Treatise on Calligraphy, an example of cursive writing of Chinese characters
Tombstone of Heinrich Roller, inventor of a German shorthand system, with a sample of his shorthand
Yiddish shorthand