Thomas Blake GLOVER – the story of the – Scottish Samurai Glover family photograph, with a young Thomas, back row, second from left Grampian Japan Trust Thomas Blake Glover Much has been written about the life and times of Thomas Blake Glover, and many myths have grown up around him. This guide has been produced to introduce his story and to inspire you to learn more about the era, the man, and some of places associated with him. Thomas’s links with Japan, and the changes that country went through in the latter half 19th century, are rightly celebrated there, and his home in Nagasaki is preserved as a museum, in extensive parkland known as Glover Garden. His career was set against a backdrop of great change in Japan and of Western economic imperialism in the Far East. Thomas was very much a man of the era and the complexity of his life and career are best understood in that context. Cover: Thomas Blake Glover Courtesy Glover Garden Above: Thomas Blake Glover wearing the Order of the Rising Sun Courtesy Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture 2 3 The Glover Family Thomas’s father, Thomas Berry Glover, was born in London and joined the Coastguard Alexander Johnston (born 1840), Martha Anne (born 1842) and Alfred Berry (born 1850). in 1827. His first appointment was to Sandend in Banffshire, where he met Mary Findlay Following two short postings over three years near Grimsby, the Glover family and they married on 3 July 1829. In November 1835 Thomas Berry Glover became returned to the North East of Scotland, to Collieston in 1847 and then to the Chief Officer at the Coastguard Station in Fraserburgh, a growing fishing port with an Coastguard Station at the Bridge of Don, just north of Aberdeen, in 1849. By 1850 expanding population. Thomas Blake Glover was born in 1838 in the family’s home Thomas’s brothers, Charles and James, were both clerks with a shipping firm based on in Commerce Street. Thomas had six brothers and a sister: Charles Thomas (born Marischal Street, whilst another brother, William, was in the merchant navy. Thomas 1830), William Jacob (born 1832), James Lindley (born 1833), Henry Martin (born 1836) and the younger children attended the Gym, Chanonry House School, in Old Aberdeen, and his name appears in a surviving school register for 1854. Little more is recorded about Thomas until August 1856 when the Foreign Office issued him with a passport allowing him to travel overseas. He arrived in Shanghai in mid 1857, aged 19, to work for the Scottish firm of Jardine, Matheson and Co, one of the largest British trading firms working in the Far East at the time. Between school and his leaving for Shanghai, Thomas may have worked with the same shipbrokers as his elder brothers, but what is certain is he took an early opportunity to go abroad. The Glover family remaining in Aberdeen moved to “Glover House” on the River Don in 1864. Above left: Thomas’s parents, Mary and Thomas Berry Glover, in 1875 Courtesy Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture Opposite left: Coastguard House, Bridge of Don Above: Glover House, Aberdeen 4 5 Japan, the East, the West and Imperialism The mid 1800s saw Western imperial expansion into the Far East. This did not result in the formal empire structure the British, French and others established in Africa, South America, India and elsewhere in the world, rather this was economic imperialism. The Western powers of Britain, USA and France were drawn to the sources of exotic products in the East. Industrialised nations in the West were in an economic slump in the 1870s, known as the ‘Long Depression’, which led to a scramble for new markets for European industrial goods and colonial produce. China had been trading with the West but under very tight restrictions imposed by the British. Britain sold Indian opium to markets in China and exported tea. After trying to work with the British authorities to limit the import of opium, the Chinese imposed a ban on it. This led to the First Opium War, which ended with a British victory in 1842. By the terms of the Treaty of Nanjing (1842) China had to pay compensation to Britain, open four ports for trade, and cede Hong Kong as a naval and commercial base. Consulates were also established. The following year the two countries signed the Treaty of the Bogue, which granted British subjects rights of extra-territoriality (that is, the right to be tried in the courts of their home countries, no matter where the alleged crime may have been committed). This right was later extend to other Western powers. The Second Opium War (1857-1860) resulted in a further treaty that opened up 10 more ports and established a British Embassy in the country to formally control trade. In 1845 Britain was allowed to establish a settlement at Shanghai. This brought British These were all the hallmarks of informal economic empire. merchants closer to Japan where they believed great untapped markets for goods existed. Japan had been ‘closed’ to foreigners since 1639, except for some very restricted Dutch trading on the island of Dejima. In Japan real power lay with the Shogun (or Tycoon) rather than the Emperor. Since 1603 the Shogun had come from the Tokugawa family. Under the Shogun’s government were the major Clans, each headed by a Daimyo. The largest and most powerful of the Clans were the Satsuma and Choshu Clans. The Clans ruled their domains but some had very limited influence nationally. The Shogun’s policy of closing Japan off from any external influences had been strictly enforced for hundreds of years. As the years progressed Japan fell behind the rate of Western technological advancement. This resulted in little or no industrialisation during the 18th and 19th centuries. As the imperial powers drew closer, and the Japanese began to see modern Western gun boats and naval technology arrive in their waters, latent tensions and frustrations among the Clans began to surface. Japan had experienced many important developments during the Tokugawa Shogunate, such as a flourishing of neo-Confucianism, artistic development and some urban growth, however many people felt increasing frustration at the current state of Japanese government practices and technology. Left: Thomas driving an early car in Japan Above: Thomas with leading members of the Mitsubishi Company taken about 1890 Courtesy Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture 6 7 Thomas Glover in Japan The key Japanese ports which were opened up were Nagasaki, Kanagawa (Yokohama) and Hakodate. With the opening of these Treaty Ports Thomas went to Japan. He arrived in Nagasaki on 19 September 1859 as an agent of Jardine, Matheson and Co and began to trade and learn Japanese. This was a bold and brave move because there was considerable resistance to westerners in Japan. In 1861 there was a Samurai attack on the British Legation in Edo (Tokyo). It was in this context of political and social turmoil that Thomas began to operate, at first for Jardine, Matheson and Co and then as an independent merchant. He initially traded green tea out of Japan and was Thomas with Yanosuke Iwasaki, chairman involved in property, but gradually moved and younger brother of the founder of the into arms and ship brokering. 1864 to 1867 Mitsubishi Company was a time of great prosperity for him. Courtesy Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture During the 1860s Thomas also began to sympathise with the clans who opposed the Shogunate. Despite elements of the Satsuma and Choshu Clans retaining strong anti- western feeling, other parts were increasingly convinced that it was best to work with the West. Thomas began to ally himself with the latter. At the time legitimate business Photograph taken in November 1905 at a reception, held at the home of Yanosuke Iwasaki, for Admiral Togo, commander of the Japanese fleet that decisively defeated the Russians at the Battle of Tsushima. was restricted to trade with the government. Thomas, however, traded with everyone. Thomas can be seen in the middle of the photograph Courtesy Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture During the early 1860s Thomas, with the help of his brothers, began to build ships in Aberdeen for the Japanese, both for the Shogunate and the Clans. In 1863 and 1864 In July 1853 an American fleet, under Commodore Matthew Perry, visited Japan in the Glover brothers brokered the ships Sarah and Satsuma for the Satsuma Clan. The order to promote open trade. The purpose of his visit, with a number of warships, was Satsuma was launched from William Duthie’s shipyard in Aberdeen with William, clear: trade was coming one way or another. The Shogunate realised the necessity of another of Thomas’s brothers, as captain on its maiden voyage. Between 1864 and ‘catching up’, to put Japan on a more equal footing with the West. 1867 the Glovers sold 20 ships to Japan. During this period Thomas also brokered a number of arms deals for the Clans, often personally buying the weapons in Shanghai In response to Perry’s visit the Shogunate opened up three treaty ports to allow and Hong Kong. Western merchants in to trade and established rights of extra-territoriality for them. However, resentment was brewing as a number of the Clans strongly opposed this In 1863 Thomas helped to organise the trip of five young, but senior, members of the approach. Others supported the move and wanted to go much further by establishing Choshu Clan to Britain. This trip was officially illegal as it had not been approved by the a new political system in the country, one where the Emperor’s power would be Japanese Authorities.