Theophilus Metcalfe (bap. 3 June 1610 – c.1645) was an English stenographer. He invented a

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to Cursive, longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Gr ...

system that became popular, in particular, in

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, where it was used to record the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Not everyone wh ...

Life

Metcalfe was baptised on 3 June 1610 in

Richmond, Yorkshire Richmond is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is located at the point where Swaledale, the upper valley of the River Swale, opens into the Vale of Mowbray. The town's population at the 2011 census was 8,413. The t ...

,Theophilus Metcalf in the North Yorkshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1558–1812
Accessed 15 January 2024. and was the tenth child of Matthew Metcalfe and his wife Maria Taylor;

Thomas Taylor Thomas Taylor may refer to: Military *Thomas H. Taylor (1825–1901), Confederate States Army colonel *Thomas Happer Taylor (1934–2017), U.S. Army officer; military historian and author; triathlete *Thomas Taylor (Medal of Honor) (born 1834), Am ...

(1576–1632) was his mother's brother. A professional writer and teacher of shorthand, Metcalfe in 1645 resided in the London parish of

St Katharine's by the Tower The Royal Foundation of St Katharine is a religious charity based in the East End of London. The Foundation traces its origins back to the medieval church and monastic hospital St Katharine's by the Tower (full name ''Royal Hospital and Collegia ...

. He died that year or early in 1646, when his widow assigned rights to reissue the book of his system.

Works

Metcalfe published a stenographic system very much along the lines of Thomas Shelton's ''Tachygraphy''. The first edition of his work was entitled ''Radio-Stenography, or Short Writing'' and is supposed to have been published in 1635. A so-called sixth edition appeared at London in 1645. It was followed in 1649 by ''A Schoolmaster to Radio-Stenography, explaining all the Rules of the said Art, by way of Dialogue betwixt Master and Scholler, fitted to the weakest capacities that are desirous to learne this Art''. Many editions of the system appeared under the title of ''Short Writing: the most easie, exact, lineall, and speedy Method that hath ever yet been obtained or taught by any in this Kingdome.'' A copy of the Bible written in Metcalfe's system by

William Holder William Holder Royal Society, FRS (1616 – 24 January 1698) was an English clergyman and music theorist of the 17th century. His most notable work was his widely known 1694 publication ''A Treatise on the Natural Grounds and Principles of Harmon ...

, and completed in 1668, is in the

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Isaac Watts Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. His works include " When I Survey th ...

also adopted it. The numbering of later editions, from the 19th of 1679 reflects no more than different printings taken from the same plates, engraved by Frederick Henry Van Hove of Haarlem. A final edition, called 55th, appeared in 1721.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Metcalfe, Theophilus 1645 deaths English writers Creators of writing systems 1610 births