In 1878, the Gregg family moved to Glasgow, Scotland, where young Gregg found a position as an office boy in a lawyer's office. His duties were light and he spent many happy hours devouring library books about shorthand writers and learning their systems. He became a self-educated man, reading American history and attending debates and lectures, at which he took notes in shorthand. At the age of 18 Gregg won a gold medal in a shorthand competition. Reporting on the accomplishment, a shorthand journal noted that "with him, shorthand is a work of love, and he has devoted no small amount of time to the collection of literature of the various systems and comparisons of their merits." Eventually he mastered the Pitman system that had stymied his siblings, but he disliked that system and continued to investigate others.
Although shorthand would later became the property of people preparing for secretarial positions, during Gregg's young manhood it was a time-saving measure used by intellectuals, lawyers, preachers, politicians, and authors. Shorthand associations formed and members met to discuss and debate the artistry and science of shorthand, shorthand theory, and the pursuit of an ideal system--one that was simple and unburdened by an overabundance of symbols.
This is a free page. This page contains 193 words. This
biography contains 1,972 words (approx. 7 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our John Robert Gregg Access Pass.
