Glover House to open this weekend
20/07/06
The one-time family home of Thomas Blake Glover – known as the "Scottish Samurai" – is to open for the summer season on Saturday (July 22), with newly extended opening hours.
Aberdeen City Council has taken over the running of Glover House, which is situated at 79 Balgownie Road, Bridge of Don, on behalf of its owners, the Grampian-Japan Trust.
Previously, access to the museum was by appointment only but for the next three months it will be open to the public on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 11am to 4pm.
All visitors will be taken on an informal guided tour of the building to ensure they get the most out of their visit.
There are a number of period rooms of interest, including the Fish Embroidery Room, which features a picture of Japan circa 1871, gifted by Nagasaki City Council, as well as embroidered fish which were created by a Japanese embroidery group.
The fish are in honour of Glover's illegitimate son Tombisaburo Glover, who was a marine biologist and commissioned artists to paint all the fish found in the market at Nagasaki.
The lounge recreates a sitting room of the Victorian period, with a variety of antiques from all over Britain and a strong Japanese influence.
The dining room, which also reflects the style of Victorian living, is still used for corporate lunches, dinners, seminars and meetings.
The tour takes in the main bedroom and dressing room and includes a half-tester bed, which would have been fashionable at the time the Glovers lived there.
Visitors can also see the traditional kitchen and maids' room.
There is also an important Students' Room, which features many items donated by Mitsubishi – including a suit of Samurai armour - as well as Japanese children's toys and photos of students who were sent to the West to study.
The house's gardens are not included in the tour but visitors are welcome to wander around.
Christine Rew, Officer in Charge of Museums and Galleries, said: "We are pleased to be running Glover House, which is more than a museum to a famous Scot - it is a continuing link with Japan, its culture and Japanese commerce and industry. I'm sure the unique atmosphere of this fascinating house will continue to be very popular with visitors."
Born in Fraserburgh in 1838, Glover is seen as one of the founding fathers of the Japanese economic success.
He went to Japan at the age of 21, a year after the country had been opened for trade. His first ventures there were concerned with exporting refined Japanese tea.
Glover went on to introduce Japan's first railway locomotive, the first dry dock, the first mechanised coal mine and modern warships.
He also founded the Japan Brewing Company, makers of Kirin Beer and was instrumental in the establishment of the Mitsubishi Nagasaki shipyard.
In 1908, Glover was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor for his role in the establishment of the Meiji government.
Although he died in 1911, Glover is still known today in Japan as the "Scottish Samurai".
In commemoration of Glover, the Rotary Club of Balgownie initiated the Rotary Thomas Glover Scholarship in 1995.
Since then every two years, the Rotary Clubs of Nagasaki and Nagasaki West have paid for a student from the University of Nagasaki to visit Aberdeen, hosted by the Rotary Clubs of Balgownie and Fraserburgh.
In the alternate years a student from the North-east visits Nagasaki and conducts a study visit there, hosted by Japanese Rotarians and their families.
The house owner, the Grampian-Japan Trust, was set up in 1996 and comprises representatives of Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and the Japan Scotland Society.
Glover House will be open until October 22. Admission is £3 for adults, £2 concession or £7 for a family of two adults and up to three children.
For more information, call the house on 01224 709303.
The opening of the museum is supported by the City Growth Fund, which is administered by Aberdeen City Council and represents a £22.25 million investment over five years by the Scottish Executive in the future of Aberdeen. The Fund was created to implement the recommendations of the Building Better Cities review conducted by the Scottish Executive, which identified the economic, social and cultural importance of Scotland’s main cities to national life.
