John Willis (inventor)

John Willis, (ca. 1575 – 28 November 1625^[1]) was a British clergyman, stenographer and mnemonician. He developed a simple style of shorthand based on the work by Timothy Bright.^[2]

Early life

Willis graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1592.^[1]

Clergyman and later life

On 12 June 1601 he was admitted to the rectory of St. Mary Bothaw, Dowgate Hill, London. He resigned in 1606 on being appointed rector of Bentley Parva, Essex.

Shorthand

In 1602 he published The Art of Stenographie, which was a new and more practicable system to capture speech in short writing. His shorthand was based on a system of arbitrary equivalent symbols, one for each single letter of the alphabet.^[3]

Works

• The Art of Stenographie, London, 1602