John Lobb

John Lobb (7 August 1840 - July 1921) was a journalist, local politician and spiritualist.

Born in Whitechapel, he became involved in the Primitive Methodist church as a lay preacher and as the editor or manger of various Methodist publications including the Kingsland Monthly Messenger The Christian Age. In 1876 he came into the public eye when he organised a fund for the Reverend Josiah Henson, the black American minister who was the inspiration for Hariett Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Lobb edited Henson's best-selling biography, and together with Henson had an audience with Queen Victoria in 1877.

From 1891-1903 he was on the editorial staff of the Sun evening paper founded by T P O'Connor.

From 1887-1905 he was a member of the common council of the City of London representing the ward of Farringdon Without, and served as chairman of the Epping Forest Committee and on the Central Markets Committee, and became Senior Bridgemaster of the City of London.

He was also a member of the Metropolitan Asylums Board and of the London School Board for a total of fifteen years, representing Hackney from 1882-1894 and again from 1897-1900.

In his later years Lobb became a strong believer in spiritualism, lecturing and writing books on the subject in the United States and Mexico.