Born in 1838 in Aberdeen, Scotland. In 1859, at the age of 21, he traveled to Nagasaki shortly after Japan opened its ports and began trading as an agent of Jardine Matheson & Co. Glover was far more than a merchant — he became deeply involved in the political upheavals of the Bakumatsu era. He built close relationships with anti-Tokugawa activists from the Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa domains, secretly supplying weapons, ammunition, and warships to support the Meiji Restoration from behind the scenes. He is believed to have been involved in arms procurement for Sakamoto Ryoma's Kameyama Shachu (later the Kaientai). In 1863, he helped the Choshu Five — including Ito Hirobumi and Inoue Kaoru — stow away to Britain. In business, he built the Kosuge Slip Dock in 1868 (Japan's first Western-style dock) and partnered with Iwasaki Yataro of Mitsubishi to lay the foundations of the shipbuilding industry. He also developed the Takashima Coal Mine, contributing greatly to Japan's modernization. His residence, completed in 1863, is Japan's oldest surviving Western-style wooden building and is now the centerpiece of Glover Garden, a major Nagasaki tourist destination. The Western mansion in Minamiyamate is said to have inspired the setting of Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly." In 1908, he became the first foreigner to receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Second Class. He died in Nagasaki in 1911, aged 73 — the "Scottish Samurai" who devoted his life to Japan.