J. Dobie & Co was an ironmonger in Glasgow. The founder was John Dobie (1820-1893), who had been born at New Abbey, a hamlet south of Dumfries, Scotland. The youngest of a large family, he began business with his brother as an ironmonger and cutler at Castle Douglas. In 1848, he married at Glasgow (Alison) Agnes Stirling (1825-1908). John opened an ironmonger and ‘cutlery warehouse’ in the city at 205 Argyle Street. By 1861, he employed four men and a boy. Besides cutlery – table knives, forks, and razors – he sold saws, edge tools, files, planes, and fishing tackle. Many of Dobie’s goods would have been sourced from Sheffield.  One his sons, John (1863-1881), died aged only 19. His other son, William Stirling Dobie (1851-1932), succeeded to his father’s business.  John Dobie retired to Lenzie – an affluent town, north-east of Glasgow – and died at his residence, Park House, on 2 July 1893 (aged 73). He took no part in public life and was described as ‘one of those men who pursue the even temper of their way without fuss or fret. He preferred to take life quietly, and his was a life of unostentatious doing good (Kirkintilloch Herald, 5 July 1893). He was an elder in the Free Church and was particularly interested in foreign missions. His estate was value at £5,436. 

After John’s death, William operated the business as John Dobie & Co, ironmongers, cutlers, opticians, saw, edge tool, and plane makers. It remained at 205 Argyle Street, but by the  1900s Dobie’s had branches at 75 Sauchiehall Street; 247 New City Road, and 18 Great Western Road (Post Office Glasgow Directory for 1920-1921).  The Hawley Trust’s ‘J. Dobie & Co’ Firth Stainless table knife would probably have been commissioned from a Sheffield maker in the 1920s.  William Stirling Dobie, a retired cutler and ironmonger, died  on 25 March 1932, aged 81, at 58 Sardinia Terrace, Cecil Street, Hillhead, Glasgow. The value of his estate was £13,612.  The Dobie family graves and tombstones are at Auld Aisle Cemetery at Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire.