At the edge of empire : the life of Thomas B. Glover /Michael Gardiner.

A biography of trader and entrepreneur Thomas Blake Glover (1838-1911). Born in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Glover arrived in Nagasaki in 1859 after working for Jardine Matheson in Shanghai for two years. Glover supplied arms and ships to the rebel factions which went on to lead the Meiji government following the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate. Glover supplied warships to the new government and played a key role in the industrialisation of Japan. He introduced the first steam locomotive and invested in and managed the first coal mine to use western mining methods. He helped to establish businesses contributing to Mitsubishi's early growth and diversification and the formation of the Japan Brewery Company (now Kirin). He was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun in 1908.