Pitman, Sir Isaac (1813-1897), a British schoolmaster, invented phonetic shorthand. He used 38 symbols to represent the sounds of vowels and consonants. This method proved much superior to older systems. It was used widely in England and the United States, and revisions of it are still taught in many schools. Pitman published his first shorthand manual in 1837. He also published many practice books, and founded a school at Bath, England, to teach his system. He was born in Trowbridge.
