Thomas Blake Glover - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Thomas Blake Glover, Order of the Rising Sun

Order of the Rising Sun

The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on April 10, 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun...

(6 June 1838 – 16 December 1911) was a Scottish

Scottish people

The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...

merchant in Bakumatsu and Meiji period

Meiji period

The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

Japan.

Early life (1838–1858)

Thomas Glover was born at 15 Commerce Street, Fraserburgh

Fraserburgh

Fraserburgh is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a population recorded in the 2001 Census at 12,454 and estimated at 12,630 in 2006. It lies at the extreme northeast corner of Aberdeenshire, around north of Aberdeen, and north of Peterhead...

, Aberdeenshire in north east Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

on 6 June 1838, moving to Bridge of Don

Bridge of Don

Bridge of Don is a suburb in the north of Aberdeen, Scotland. It has an estimated population of over 22,000.Bridge of Don is split into smaller areas...

, near Aberdeen

Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....

, six years later. His father worked for the coast guard

Coast guard

A coast guard or coastguard is a national organization responsible for various services at sea. However the term implies widely different responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to being a volunteer organization tasked with...

. Upon leaving school, Glover entered into employment with a trading company

Trading company

Trading companies are businesses working with different kinds of products which are sold for consumer, business or government purposes. Trading companies buy a specialized range of products, maintain a stock or a shop, and deliver products to customers....

and travelled widely.

Japan (1859–1911)

In 1859, Glover crossed from Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

to Nagasaki and worked initially for Jardine Matheson buying Japanese green tea

Green tea

Green tea is made solely from the leaves of Camellia sinensis that have undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures throughout Asia. It has recently become more widespread in the West, where black tea is traditionally...

. Two years later, he founded his own firm, Glover Trading Co. (Guraba-Shokai). His first major success was as a merchant for ships, guns and gunpowder

Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

sold illegally to the rebellious Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa

Tosa Domain

The was a feudal domain in Tosa Province of Japan during the Edo period. Its official name is . Some from the domain played important roles in events in the late Tokugawa shogunate...

clans in Japan during the 1860s. His business was based in Nagasaki, and it was here that he had his home constructed, the first Western-style building in Japan. There is no evidence to show that Glover was a Freemason

Freemasonry

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...

, although he is often associated with the Masonic Lodge by both Japanese and foreign writers. His association with the samurai clans above, and his interest in samurais generally seems to have contributed to his gaining the nickname the "Scottish Samurai". A Scottish Samurai award has been initiated by Aberdeen Sports Council.

Anti-western sentiment was rife at this point throughout the country due to the unbalanced treaty agreements

Unequal Treaties

“Unequal treaty” is a term used in specific reference to a number of treaties imposed by Western powers, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, on Qing Dynasty China and late Tokugawa Japan...

imposed upon the Tokugawa Shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

by the United States and other western powers, which included extraterritorial rights

Extraterritoriality

Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations...

. Nationalistic militants

Sonno joi

is a Japanese political philosophy and a social movement derived from Neo-Confucianism; it became a political slogan in the 1850s and 1860s in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, during the Bakumatsu period.-Origin:...

in Satsuma and Chōshū spearheaded anti-government efforts aimed at toppling the Shogunate and restoring the Emperor

Emperor of Japan

The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...

as sovereign. It was to these factions, later to become leaders in the Meiji Restoration government, that Glover supported with arms and warships.

In 1863, Glover helped the Chōshū Five

Choshu Five

The were members of the Chōshū han of western Japan who studied in England from 1863 at University College London under the guidance of Professor Alexander William Williamson. It was still illegal to leave Japan when they left, as sakoku was still practically in force until the Meiji...

travel to London on Jardine Matheson ships. He also helped send fifteen trainees from Satsuma under Godai Tomoatsu

Godai Tomoatsu

was one of the Satsuma students of 1865, smuggled out of Bakumatsu period Japan to study in Great Britain. He returned to become Japan's leading entrepreneur of the early Meiji period.-Early life:...

in 1865. He was also responsible in 1868 for bringing the first steam railway locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

called "Iron Duke" to Japan which he demonstrated on an 8-mile track at Ōura

Oura, Kagoshima

was a town located in Kawanabe District, Kagoshima, Japan.On November 7, 2005 Ōura was merged with the town of Kinpō, from Hioki District, the towns of Bonotsu and Kasasa, all from Kawanabe District, and the old city of Kaseda, to form the new city of Minamisatsuma and no longer exists as an...

.

As Glover had assisted in toppling the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Boshin War

Boshin War

The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....

, he had cordial relations with the new Meiji government. These links led to his being responsible for commissioning one of the first warships in the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

(the Jo Sho Maru, later called Ryūjō Maru

Japanese battleship Ryujo (1864)

The or Jo Sho Maru, was a steam ironclad warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, designed by Thomas Blake Glover and built in Scotland for the private navy of the fief of Kumamoto, where it was called the Jo Sho Maru. It was delivered to the new Imperial Japanese Navy on 8 May 1870, and sailed...

) which was built by Alexander Hall and Company in Aberdeen and launched on 27 March 1869. Glover also commissioned the smaller Hosho Maru for the navy and the Kagoshima for the Satsuma clan from the same Aberdeen shipyard.

In 1868, Glover made a contract with the Nabeshima clan

Nabeshima clan

The Nabeshima clan was a prominent Japanese samurai clan of Kyūshū which controlled Saga Domain from the late Sengoku period through the Edo period.The Nabeshima clan was a cadet branch of the Shōni clan and was descended from the Fujiwara clan...

of Saga Domain

Saga Domain

Saga Domain was a han, or feudal domain, in Tokugawa period Japan. Largely contiguous with Hizen Province on Kyūshū, the domain was governed from Saga Castle in the capital city of Saga by the Nabeshima clan of tozama daimyō...

in Hizen Province

Hizen Province

was an old province of Japan in the area of Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō...

and began to develop Japan's first coal mine at Takashima

Takashima

Takashima may refer to:PeoplePeople with the surname Takashima:*Gara Takashima, Japanese voice actor*Kazusa Takashima, Japanese manga artist*Kohey Takashima, Japanese businessman*Masahiro Takashima, Japanese actor...

. He also brought the first dry dock

Dry dock

A drydock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform...

to Japan.

Thomas Glover went bankrupt in 1870, but he stayed in Japan to manage the Takashima coal mine after the Restoration for the mine's Dutch owners until it was taken over by the Meiji government. In 1881, the mine was acquired by Iwasaki Yatarō.

Glover was a key figure in the industrialisation of Japan, helping to found the shipbuilding company, which was later to become the Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan

Mitsubishi

The Mitsubishi Group , Mitsubishi Group of Companies, or Mitsubishi Companies is a Japanese multinational conglomerate company that consists of a range of autonomous businesses which share the Mitsubishi brand, trademark and legacy...

. He also helped found the Japan Brewery Company, which later became the major Kirin Brewery Company, Ltd. It is rumoured that the moustache

Moustache

A moustache is facial hair grown on the outer surface of the upper lip. It may or may not be accompanied by a type of beard, a facial hair style grown and cropped to cover most of the lower half of the face.-Etymology:...

of the mythical creature featured on Kirin beer labels is in fact a tribute to Glover (who sported a similar moustache).

In recognition of these achievements, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun

Order of the Rising Sun

(second class).

Thomas Glover died at his home in Tokyo, but was buried at the Sakamoto International Cemetery

Sakamoto International Cemetery

The is located in Sakamoto in the Urakami area of the city of Nagasaki, Japan. The cemetery for foreigners was established following the 1888 closure of an earlier burial ground near the international quarter of the city. It is administered by the city government....

in Nagasaki.

Family

Thomas Glover shared a common-law marital relationship

Common-law marriage

Common-law marriage, sometimes called sui juris marriage, informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute, is a form of interpersonal status that is legally recognized in limited jurisdictions as a marriage even though no legally recognized marriage ceremony is performed or civil marriage...

with a Japanese woman named Awajiya Tsuru, a native of Bungo province

Bungo Province

was a province of Japan in eastern Kyūshū in the area of Ōita Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Buzen Province. Bungo bordered Buzen, Hyūga, Higo, Chikugo, and Chikuzen Provinces.-History:...

(present day Oita Prefecture

Oita Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan on Kyūshū Island. The prefectural capital is the city of Ōita.- History :Around the 6th century Kyushu consisted of four regions: Tsukushi-no-kuni 筑紫国, Hi-no-kuni 肥国, and Toyo no kuni...

) whom he apparently met in Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

in the early 1870s. The couple had a daughter named Hana, born in Nagasaki in 1876. Hana wed British merchant Walter George Bennett in 1897 and later moved with him to Korea, where she died in 1938. She had four children but only one grandchild, Ronald Bennett (born 1931) who is living today in the United States. Thomas Glover also had an adopted British-Japanese son, later named Guraba Tomisaburo (1870–1945), who was born in Nagasaki and went on to make important contributions to the economy of this city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tomisaburo was married to Nakano Waka, also of mixed British and Japanese descent.

Official household registers preserved at Nagasaki City Hall indicate that Tomisaburo was the son, not of Glover's wife Tsuru, but of a woman named Kaga Maki. Except for these official registers, however, nothing is known about Kaga Maki, her relationship with Glover, or the circumstances of their separation. Glover and Tsuru remained together until the latter's death in 1899. Kaga Maki, meanwhile, married a Japanese man and died in Nagasaki in 1905.

Despite his Japanese citizenship, Guraba Tomisaburo was hounded as a potential spy by the Japanese military police

Kempeitai

The was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945. It was not an English-style military police, but a French-style gendarmerie...

during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. His wife Waka died in 1943, and Tomisaburo committed suicide on 26 August 1945, soon after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...

and a few weeks before the arrival of American Occupation forces in Nagasaki. Since the couple had no children, this marked the end of the association between Nagasaki and the Glover family.

Thomas Glover has been linked with Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...

's opera "Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...

," which is set in Nagasaki, but there is no historical evidence to support this claim, except the fact that, in some photographs, Glover's wife Tsuru appears wearing a kimono with a butterfly design on the sleeve. There is also no evidence whatever for the claim that Tsuru went by the nickname "Ochō-san" (Ms Butterfly). It is likely, as Brian Burke-Gaffney points out, that the Glover-Madame Butterfly connection is derived from the fact that the American Occupation forces nicknamed the former Glover House the "Madame Butterfly House" (purely on the basis of the panoramic view over Nagasaki Harbor and the Euro-Japanese ambience of the building) and that Nagasaki authorities picked up on this as a way to promote the postwar tourism industry.

Residences

Glover's former residences in Nagasaki and Aberdeen

Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....

have both since been turned into museums, with the beautifully situated Glover Garden

Glover Garden

thumb|right|250px|Glover House known as Ipponmatsu from a drawing of 1863. The tree was chopped down in the early 1900s is a park in Nagasaki, Japan built for Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish entrepreneur who contributed to the modernization of Japan in shipbuilding, coal mining, and many other...

house in Nagasaki attracting two million visitors each year. He also had a residence in the Shiba Park

Shiba Park

is a public park in Minato, Tokyo, Japan built around the temple of Zōjō-ji.The park is located between the Minato municipal offices and Tokyo Tower...

area of Tokyo.

Glover's family home in Scotland, Glover House, 79 Balgownie Road, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen is now open to the public as a restored Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

house, telling the Glover story. The house is also available as a venue for business meetings, small private functions and group tours. The home where he was born in Fraserburgh

Fraserburgh

was destroyed by World War II bombing although a blue plaque marks the site of his birth. Glover's link to his birthplace is commemorated at Fraserburgh Heritage Centre.

Honours

Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star
Order of the Rising Sun
The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on April 10, 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun...

, 1908 (Japan).

External links

Thomas Blake Glover
Famous Scots
Nagasaki Tourism website: Glover Garden; Glover Garden