John Robert Gregg (17 June 1867 – 23 February 1948) was born in Shantonagh, Ireland, as the youngest child of Robert and Margaret Gregg. In 1872, the family moved to Rockcorry, County Monaghan, where John attended the village school. On his second day of class, John was caught whispering to a schoolmate, which prompted the schoolmaster to hit the two children's heads together. This incident profoundly damaged Gregg's hearing for the rest of his life, rendering him unable to participate fully in school because he was unable to understand his teacher. This ultimately led to the boy unnecessarily being perceived as dull or mentally challenged by his peers, teachers, and family.

In 1877, one of Robert Gregg's friends, a journalist named Annesley, visited the village. He was versed in Pitman Shorthand and took verbatim notes of the sermon at the village church. Robert saw Annesley’s shorthand and quickly surmised the skill would be a powerful asset. He made it mandatory for his children to learn Pitman shorthand, with the exception of John, who was considered too "simple" to learn it. None of the children succeeded in fully learning the system. But John, on his own, learned a different shorthand system, that of Samuel Taylor, since he did not require the ability to hear in order to learn from the book.

Gregg had to leave school before the age of 13 to support his family's income. He worked in a law office, earning five shillings a week. Still fascinated by shorthand, Gregg set out to improve the English adaptation developed by John Matthew Sloan of the French Prévost Duployé Shorthand. He did so by working with one of Sloan’s salesmen, Robert Malone. Malone published a system called Script Phonography, of which Gregg asserted a share in authorship was owed to him. Malone refused. Angered, Gregg resigned.

Gregg found the angular outlines of Duployan-based systems to be detrimental to speed. Encouraged by his older brother Samuel, Gregg published and copyrighted his own system of shorthand in 1888. Gregg shorthand featured cursive strokes which could be naturally blended without obtuse angles. In addition, because the symbols of Gregg shorthand were developed specially for English rather than adapted from a French system, they were a better fit for the language. Gregg’s system was published in Liverpool, England in a brochure entitled Light-Line Phonography: The Phonetic Handwriting. 

In 1893, Gregg emigrated to the United States. The predominant shorthand system in America at that time was Pitman, which Isaac Pitman’s brother Benn had brought from England in 1853. By 1889, about 97 percent of all U.S. stenographers wrote Pitman. The same year Gregg arrived in America, he published his own shorthand system, which he renamed simply Gregg Shorthand.

In the late 1800s, shorthand was a tool for recording others’ conversations, taking quick notes, or writing personal thoughts. But the Industrial Revolution had led to an increased need for stenographers in the business world, which led to the large-scale proliferation of shorthand. Over time, the Pitman system fell out of use in the United States, and the predominant system became Gregg Shorthand.

It may be surprising to some that for decades, Gregg shorthand was almost exclusively the domain of educated men who used it as a private way to communicate between themselves. It wasn't until the 1940s that it really became associated with female support staff, who worked for those educated men. Reflecting the gender stereotypes of the day, shorthand was touted to be a wonderful skill for a woman to have so she could support herself - at least until she found a husband.

Of course, with the development and proliferation of Dictaphones and ultimately computers, shorthand became somewhat superfluous. Formal teaching of Gregg Shorthand started fading out in America in the mid-1970s. By the early 1980s, it stopped being taught altogether.

John Robert Gregg’s signature. Many shorthand volumes still in existence today bear his autograph – usually along with his best wishes (written, of course, in shorthand).

The Gregg Versions

Gregg’s first publication of his shorthand system in 1888 was a thin pamphlet published in England.

Throughout its history, different forms of Gregg Shorthand have been published. All the versions use the same alphabet and basic principles, but they differ in degrees of abbreviation and, as a result, speed. The 1916 version (known as the Pre-Anniversary) is generally the fastest and most abbreviated version.

In 1929, another version of Gregg shorthand was published. This system decreased the number of brief forms and removed uncommon prefixes. It is known as the Anniversary version because it was intended to have been published in 1928 on the 40th anniversary of the system. It was published a year afterward due to a production delay.

Gregg Shorthand Simplified was published in 1949. This system drastically reduced the number of brief forms that needed to be memorised to only 181. Even so, one could still reach speeds of 150 words per minute. The system was simplified to directly address business stenographers, who as a practical matter only needed to produce 100 - 120 words per minute.

The Diamond Jubilee series was published from 1963 through 1977. It was simpler than the Simplified version and reduced the number of brief forms to 129.

Series 90 (1978–1987) was an even simpler version, which used a minimal number of brief forms and placed a great emphasis on clear transcription rather than speed. This version is generally thought to be longer and slower than the previous editions. Shorthand was dwindling in popularity by the time this version was published.

The final version of the Gregg system, known as the Centennial Edition, was published in 1988. It is the only version since the Pre-anniversary edition of 1916 to increase the complexity of the system from the previous one, having 132 brief forms.

While the above versions of Gregg shorthand were marketed for professional use, there were other systems published that were targeted to other audiences. Gregg Shorthand Junior Manual, designed for junior high school students, was published in 1927 and 1929. Gregghand, A Simple Phonetic Writing for Everyday Use by Everyone, was published as a pamphlet in 1935. And the 1960 and 1968 editions of Gregg Notehand focused on how to take effective classroom and personal notes using a simple form of Gregg shorthand.