Biography

Blanchard was the grandson of a French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 refugee, who resided in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He became a professional shorthand writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, and practised his art in Westminster Hall from 1767 till his death in 1796. His offices were at 4 Dean Street, Fetter Lane

Fetter Lane

Fetter Lane is a street in the ward of Farringdon Without in London England. It runs from Fleet Street in the south to Holborn in the north.The earliest mention of the street is "faitereslane" in 1312. The name occurs with several spellings until it settles down about 1612. There is no agreement...

, and 10 Clifford's Inn.

He was the inventor of two separate and distinct systems of stenography, the first of which he published under the title of 'A Complete System of Shorthand, being an improvement upon all the authors whose systems have yet been made public; is easy to be attained, and may be read again at any distance of time with the greatest certainty; it being properly adapted to the Latin tongue, and all sorts of technical terms, will make it extremely useful for law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

, physic

Physic

Physic may also refer to:*Physics, the study of matter, motion, and energy*Medicine, the science of healing*A type of Herb garden used for remedial purposes.*A professorship at either Cambridge or Dublin...

, or divinity

Divinity

Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...

,' Lond. 1779, 8vo, 16 pp. and two plates. This was followed by the explanation of a much more elaborate system in 'The Complete Instructor of Shorthand, upon principles applicable to the European languages; also to the technical terms used by anatomists, and more comprehensive and easy to write and to read than any system hitherto published,' Lond. 1786, 4to. The method of stenography described in this last work was never practised to any extent, and it certainly does not deserve the extravagant praise bestowed upon it by the author of the 'Historical Account of Shorthand,' which passes under the name of James Henry Lewis. Several trials taken in shorthand by Blanchard were published between 1775 and 1791, including the trials of Admiral Keppel

Admiral Keppel

Admiral Keppel may refer to:* Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel , British; also politician* Colin Richard Keppel , British* Henry Keppel , British...

 and Horne Tooke.