History of Shorthand: A select list of shorthand systems

(Arranged in order of the date of publication.)

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Cross

In the U.S.A. J.G.Cross published ‘Eclectic Shorthand’ in 1879. His alphabet of consonants is derived from the “inclined ellipse” which is similar to that used by Gregg (q.v.). There are separate signs for lower and for upper case letters; a dot capitalizes a letter. Different backward ticks are used to represent the syllables ‘‘shun’ (-tion) and ‘shus’ (-cious).

Pocknell

Edward Pocknell published his ‘Legible Shorthand’ in 1881. This was an attempt to make shorthand easy to read but it was not an easy method to learn. Three characters are assigned to each letter, a straight stroke and two curves; these relate to a preceding or following vowel. The consonant signs are allocated in pairs relating to their sound, K and G, F and V, P and B, T and D. Circles joined before or after can indicate different consonants. There is exact vowel representation using separate and specific signs. The different shaped consonants are used to indicate different following vowel sounds instead of the position approach used by Pitman and Gurney. There are more than 80 joined prefixes and long lists of abbreviations are required to be memorized.
This an elaborate system imposing a heavy memory burden on the writer in order to achieve greater legibility in reading but which is not often needed.
Pocknell’s library of books on shorthand is housed in the West Country Studies Library, Exeter Central Library, Devon. See Library Collections

Sloan

John Matthew Sloan published ‘The Sloan-Duployan Phonographic Instructor’ in 1884. He introduced the method to Ireland where it became the most popular system. A.J. Pernin had written a similar Phonographic Instructor in 1877 and both claimed to be adaptations to English of the French system of Duployé. It is a phonetic system with paired consonants, long and short lengths, representing the 28 sounds of the French language. The vowels are indicated by circles of different sizes and can be written in any direction but they are not fully represented; the joined medial vowels are not always sufficiently distinctive. Sloan retained the geometric symbols of original Duployé with a few changes (S, SH, CH) and added H which did not occur in the French original. Consonants may be thickened to indicate a following R sound and the signs for S, SH, CH, M, N and NG can be thickened to indicate a preceding R prefix. The method appears to have a certain vagueness and uncertainly in its general structure.

Lockett

The manual “Lockett’s Shorthand Instructor” (1885) by A.B. Lockett was published as “an improvement of Sloan's system”, but it has an almost identical alphabet. There are some 38 signs for prefixes with a total of some 93 combinations. Isaac Pitman's comment on this work was that “Mr. Lockett’s system is utterly useless”!

Malone

Thomas Stratford Malone published a landmark, ‘‘Script Phonography’, in 1886. This is a 'one-slope' method which “secures the slope and uniformity of movement of ordinary longhand” with joined vowels. The consonants were modified from the geometric signs of Duployé on which this method is based, to cursive symbols. Shading (thickening) of strokes was used to represent plurals, possessives and verbal endings. (cf Dutton, 1916) A vowel sign could be thickened on its left side to indicate a preceding S and when thickened on its right side in indicated a following S. There is extensive abbreviation of words by writing only the first portion of a word.
Gregg (1888) was clearly influenced by Malone but he made some significant re-allocations of the consonant forms and the elimination of shading or thickening letters.
There was a fierce debate between Pitman and Malone concerning the merits of their respective systems and methods of approach. In the Preface to Malone’s pamphlet (1889), 'Script v. Pitman, the great debate', he explains his intentions “to expose .. the methods used by Pitman to impede the progress of a new rival system of shorthand writing …” and calls upon Pitmanism “to surrender the monopoly it seized in the days of the venerable rushlight and the primitive stagecoach”.

Davies

D S Davies published his ‘Manual of Sonography’ in 1887. This is a single-slope (Right-hand slope) method with two sizes of characters differentiated with cognate pairs, p - b, k - g, t - d. There is a large number of consonant characters to represent a range of sounds. Each vowel sound has a different sign (not always related). There is a special notation for writing numbers and also for the common punctuation marks.

Gregg

John Robert Gregg (1867-1948) made a particularly significant contribution to the development of shorthand with the publication in Liverpool, England, of his "Light-Line Phonography" in 1888. This appeared in two small paper covered pamphlets and the system met with immediate and enthusiastic success. The principal features are; 1. Phonetic approach with words written according to their sound, 2. No compulsory thickening of strokes, 3. Written on the slope of normal longhand, 4. No position writing, 5. Vowels are expressed as circles and hooks and form continuous joining strokes with the consonants, 6. Angles are rare and the curves of handwriting predominant.

The signs used in the Gregg system are derived from an ellipse, horizontal or upright. Associated (paired) letter sounds, B and P, F and V, T and D, are distinguished by writing the heavier sound longer than the lighter sound sign.

Vowels are written within the word outline as joining strokes. These comprise a large and small circle (A and E) and two hooks (O and U).

The consonants are designed to be blended with others to create single combination curves which are fast to write. High writing speeds can be obtained, partly achieved by curtailing the length of a word sign and omitting the greater part of a word.

Since its original publication the system has evolved over the years with various improvements and simplification. In 1929 the Anniversary edition was published with significant changes, the publishing house of McGraw-Hill acquired the rights to Gregg shorthand in 1948 and a simplified form of the Anniversary edition was issued under the title “Simplified Gregg”. The number of rules were again reduced and many Brief Forms were now written in full.

The Diamond Jubilee edition (1963) produced more simplification. This made the system easier and faster to learn but outlines became longer and thus slower to write. In 1978 the 90th anniversary edition, Series 90, was a further attempt to make the system easier still to learn but outlines took longer to write. At this point many Business Colleges preferred to teach Speedwriting (see Dearborn entry below) as an alternative to Gregg.

In the late 1980’s a centennial edition of Gregg shorthand was published. See the entries under Gregg in Shorthand Today for more information on the Gregg system.
Gregg was born in Ireland and later emigrated to the U.S.A. where his shorthand method has always been popular.

Ellis

M.P.Ellis issued an adaptation of the Duployan method (3rd edition 1888). Vowels are written in their natural order and there is no shading or position writing. There are no grammalogues or special short forms and no arbitrary signs. It was claimed that a student could achieve a writing speed of 50-70 words a minute in 6 weeks by studying one hour a day.

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