Shoe lasts are essential to cordwainers, aka shoe makers. They are used to shape the top of the shoe, to stretch the leather and tack it in place for the sole to be added later. The tack holes on the bottom of wooden lasts are how you can tell a true last from a purely decorative one. This last, with Mobbs & Lewis stamped on the side, raised the question of whether the company was a shoe maker or a last maker. It turns out it was a British company that made both iron and wooden lasts in the 20th century.
The 1914 Who’s Who in Business describes the company as:
Makers of Lasts, Shoe Display Forms and Shoe Machinery, Carrington Street, Kettering, and 29, Ber Street, Norwich. Hours of Business: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, close at 1 p.m. Established in 1885 by H. W. Mobbs and A. Lewis. Incorporated as a Limited Company in 1900. Directors: H. W. Mobbs (Chairman), A. Lewis and H. G. Gotch (Secretary). Premises: Consist of three factories and three stores. Staff: 180. Specialities: Easy Exit Lasts, which can be withdrawn from a boot and re-inserted during the process of Manufacture. ” British ” Boot-Treeing Machine, “Fibre Filler,” “Easy Exit Last ‘ in Iron, ” Wedge-Hinge Last ‘ in Wood, ” Gap-Spring Last ” in Wood. Patents: Several for Lasts and for Shoe Display Forms. Connection: United Kingdom, Foreign and Colonial. Telephone: No. 7 Kettering. Code: A B C (5th Edition). Bankers: London City and Midland Bank, Ltd. Mr. H. W. Mobbs is a well-known Lecturer to Technical Students on Trade Subjects.
Mobbs & Lewis iron lasts were made in their factory on Carrington Street in Kettering, a town in Northhamptonshire, England, as shown in this iron foundry photo from the 1920s.
The Kettering facility continued to be used until it was rebuilt in 1961 when the company switched from using Canadian maple lasts to plastic ones. (When they stopped making iron lasts, I was not able to ferret out.) In 1964, Mobbs & Lewis became Mobbs Miller when they merged with the O.A. Miller Last Co.
The maple wooden last that started this rabbit hole excursion was made by Mobbs & Lewis at a subsidiary in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada.
References:
Built to Last: The Buildings of the Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Industry, by Kathryn A. Morrison with Ann Bond.
