Thomas Glover was a Scottish trader who provided arms and assistance to the anti-Tokugawa han of Chôshû through his Nagasaki-based trading company. Sakamoto Ryoma purchased arms with funds provided by Satsuma for the venture. Glover also arranged for Japanese to study abroad in the United Kingdom, and sold Satsuma a steamship in 1863/2, adding to the British steamships purchased by the domain in late 1860, and in late 1862.[1] Operating as an agent of the Chinese-based Jardine, Matheson & Company, he competed in 1863-1864 with the American Eugene Van Reed, a merchant with the Yokohama branch of the Canton-based Augustine Heard & Company, for privileged status in trade with Satsuma.[2]
References
- Hillsborough, Romulus. RYOMA- Life of a Renaissance Samurai. Ridgeback Press, 1999
- Jansen, Marius B. Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration. Columbia University Press, 1994.