The original John Lobb was a Cornish farm boy whose mastery of the Gentle Craft of last and awl brought him golden awards in the Great International Exhibitions of Victorian times. He became the proud holder of a Royal Warrant as Bootmaker to Edward, Prince of Wales. The Prince, as King Edward VII, was to give his name to a whirling Edwardian era of opulence and splendour; an era in which Lobb shoes became a synonym for quality and elegance.

Despite the later social and economic vicissitudes which obliterated most hand-made bootmakers in the West End, has survived to ensure the present-day survival of the craft and of customers eager to follow in the footsteps of the famous. Neither the dark depression of the thirties nor the German bombs of the Blitz (when Lobb premises were blown to bits six times) could ultimately destroy the durability of the painstaking techniques passed down from one generation of craftsmen to another.