Biography
He was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire in England. One of his cousins was Abraham Laverton. 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.
Isaac Pitman was a lifelong advocate of spelling reform for the English language, producing many pamphlets during his lifetime on spelling reform. 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 entitled Sound-Hand. Among the examples in this pamphlet, were the Psalm 100, the Lord's Prayer, and Swedenborg's Rules of Life. In 1844 he published Phonotypy, his major work on spelling reform. In the 1881 census his name is spelt phonetically as Eisak Pitman. 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.
Pitman was active in the local New Church congregation in Bath while living on Royal Crescent. 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. 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.
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