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Sir John Hawley Glover

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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SIR JOHN HAWLEY GLOVER (1829-1885), captain in the British navy, entered the service in 1841 and passed his examination as lieutenant in 1849, but did not receive a commission till May 1851. He served on various stations, and was wounded severely in an action with the Burmese at Donabew (4th February 1853). But his reputation was not gained at sea and as a naval officer, but on shore and as an administrative official in the colonies. During his years of service as lieutenant in the navy he had had considerable experience of the coast of Africa, and had taken part in the expedition of Dr W. B. Baikie (1824-1864) up the Niger. On the 21st of April 1863 he was appointed administrator of the government of Lagos, and in that capacity, or as colonial secretary, he remained there till 1872. During this period he had been much employed in repelling the marauding incursions of the Ashantis. When the Ashanti war broke out in 1873, Captain Glover undertook the hazardous and doubtful task of organizing the native tribes, whom hatred of the Ashantis might be expected to make favourable to the British authorities - to the extent at least to which their fears would allow them to act. His services were accepted, and in September of 1873 he landed at Cape Coast, and, after forming a small trustworthy force of Hausa, marched to Accra. His influence sufficed to gather a numerous native force, but neither he nor anybody else could overcome their abject terror of the ferocious Ashantis to the extent of making them fight. In January 1874 Captain Glover was able to render some assistance in the taking of Kumasi, but it was at the head of a Hausa force. His services were acknowledged by the thanks of parliament and by his creation as G.C.M. G. In 1875 he was appointed governor of Newfoundland and held the post till 1881, when he was transferred to the Leeward Islands. He returned to Newfoundland in 1883, and died in London on the 30th September 1885.

Lady Glover's Life of her husband appeared in 1897.