He brought a new language to Australia
Today's blog is about a man whose brother brought about a revolution in the English language and how it was written in certain circumstances. This man has a very unique headstone.
I went to Bath England recently seeking information about this man's brother and saw a few notable references.
So, who is this man..
JACOB PITMAN
Jacob was born in November 1810 at Trowbridge, England, the eldest son of Samuel Pitman and his wife Maria. His younger brother Isaac was the inventor of phonography. Jacob was apprenticed to a local builder for seven years and then worked in London for a building firm. After a time in the London school of the British and Foreign Bible Society, he taught for a while at North Nibley Gloucestershire, and married Emma Hooper in December 1833.
Jacob applied for free passage to South Australia in November 1837 and sailed with his wife and two daughters in the Trusty. During the journey he made friends with William Holden who would later have a journalistic career in Adelaide.
Jacob Pitman sketch - ancestry.com with thanks (apologies for clarity).
Upon arrival he soon put his skills to good use and found early prosperity. He established premises in Rundle Street East as a builder and architect and was able to invest in suburban and rural land. When a severe depression hit the area in 1840, he stopped building and surrendered his leased acres. By October 1843 Jacob was declared insolvent. However, in March 1846 his debts were discharged, and he recommenced building and supervising the construction of several bridges across the Torrens River and near Echunga.
Pitman founded the first society of the New (Swedenborgian) Church in the southern hemisphere in Adelaide on 7th of July 1844 and officiated as the society's minister until 1859. It was a church that his younger brother, Isaac, was heavily involved in and was one of the founding members in his town of Bath in 1841. The Swendenborgian Church was developed under the influence of theology of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). It acknowledges that its followers believe in the universal nature of God's church and that all who do good in accordance with the truth of their religion will be accepted into heaven; by doing good joins one with God. Swedenborg's writing promoted one universal church based on love and charity rather than religions named after their founders and based on belief and doctrine.
When Jacob sailed for South Australia in the Trusty, he had brought 100 copies of his brother's first manual of "phonography", (known as shorthand from 1841), which he circulated among the Colony's leaders. William Holden who he had met on board the Trusty, besides sharing Jacob's attachment to the New Swedenborg Church, was one of the first journalists to use phonography.
As this unique way of recording conversation quickly caught on Pitman took to teaching it in Adelaide in 1846 and later in Victoria and NSW. He claimed to have "sown the first seed of phonography in the Australian colonies".
Shorthand is a system of rapid writing that uses symbols or abbreviations for letters, words or phrases, The practice of shorthand writing had been used in various forms from the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
In the 19th century shorthand was not widely used but rather newspaper or court reporters took notes in longhand and filled in the text later by memory causing many inaccuracies. Pitman wanted his version of shorthand to be efficient and based on the sounds of words, or "phonography". It used simple abbreviations for speed based upon basic groups such as vowels and unvoiced consonants.
Jacob left South Australia for Melbourne in 1870 but returned briefly to superintend public works at Mount Gambier. His wife died in June 1881. At the New Church, Melbourne, on 1st of January 1883 he married Catherin Mary Yates, a widow.
Jacob Pitman died in Camperdown, Sydney, on 12th of March 1890. He was survived by his second wife and five of his nine children of his first marriage.
He is buried the old Anglican area of Rookwood close to Railway Street, an area rich with notable people.
His headstone carries an epitaph in Isaac Pitman's reformed spelling, describing Jacob as an "arkitekt" who "introduist fonetik shorthand".
Jacob Pitman - original headstone - find a grave.
Jacob Pitman's headstone after it was extensively damaged: note top decoration absent - Find a grave.
Isaac Pitman set up a Phonetic Institute in Bath as a publishing house and marketing operation. His success in recording verbatim an anti-corn law speech by William Cobden gained converts to his system and soon his shorthand was used for preparing Hansard, the official record of Parliament. Pitman's shorthand was adapted into many languages. He discontinued all alcoholic beverages in 1837 and became a vegetarian, both lifelong practices. Pitman was the vice-present of the Vegetarian Society, a very forward-thinking ideal at that time. Isaac Pitman was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1894.
Sir Isaac Pitman - Wikipedia
As a resident of Bath, many of his years residing in the Royal Circus, he is honoured with a memorial plaque in Bath Abbey which I recently visited. It 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".
Memorial to Sir Isaac Pitman in Bath Abbey - author's personal collection.
I wonder how many of those reading this blog were trained in Pitman shorthand. I confess I was, but I was a dismal failure, and it was just as well recordings that could be typed up came into fashion!
References used for this blog were Ancestry.com; Wikipedia; Australian Dictionary of Biography by Bruce Muirden and other sources available via Google.
If you have any comments regarding this blog - or if you were trained in Shorthand - please add them below or at the Facebook group page at
rookwoodcemeterydiscoveries
or sending me a personal message at
lorainepunch@gmail.com
Just stumbled across your blog. Thank you for such informative descriptions of Rookwood's early people. I too was trained in Pitman's shorthand - I remember that my teachers were very trendy (back in the 60s).
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever mind Pitman had! I had never considered the person behind the clever communication system. I really enjoyed reading about him and look forward to reading more of your blog stories. Thank you.
I started to learn Pitman's shorthand and was pleased to stop as it went out of vogue with the advent of electric typewriters and early computers - phew
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