The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-17428, in the name of Karen Adam, on Thomas Blake Glover—Fraserburgh’s international legacy. The debate will be concluded without any question being put. Members who wish to participate should press their request-to-speak buttons.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament recognises what it sees as the extraordinary global contribution of Thomas Blake Glover, a pioneering Scottish merchant and industrialist, who was born on 6 June 1838 in Fraserburgh, at what is now known as Glover Garden on Commerce Street, and who was the son of the town’s harbour master; acknowledges Thomas Blake Glover’s key role in 19th century Japan, where he supported the Choshu Five, a group of young scholars whose work helped shape modern Japanese governance, industry and education, including the introduction of sign language; notes his pivotal contribution to the establishment of the Mitsubishi Corporation and his influence in the development of Japan’s shipbuilding and industrial sectors; celebrates the enduring cultural and economic links between Scotland and Japan that it believes Thomas Blake Glover helped to foster, including the internationally renowned Glover Garden in Nagasaki; recognises the contemporary relevance of his legacy in Fraserburgh, where offshore wind turbines, visible from the coast and maintained at the harbour where Thomas Blake Glover’s father served, include parts manufactured by Mitsubishi; acknowledges what it sees as this powerful link between Fraserburgh’s maritime heritage and its current role in the global energy transition; welcomes the development of Fraserburgh’s own Glover Garden as a symbol of education, pride and international friendship, and wishes every success to the organisers and attendees of the inaugural Thomas Blake Glover Festival, taking place on 8 June 2025, in the hope that it will become a lasting annual celebration of Fraserburgh’s unique contribution to global history.
12:49
Tomorrow will mark the passage of exactly 187 years since a boy was born in a coastal town in the north-east of Scotland—Fraserburgh, which is fondly known as the Broch. On 6 June 1838, that boy, who was the son of the town’s harbour master, was born on Commerce Street. His name was Thomas Blake Glover.
I doubt that anyone at that time could have imagined just how far that Fraserburgh boy would go—that, one day, he would be honoured by the Emperor of Japan, his work would transform entire industries and economies, and his legacy would still live on today, not just in history books but in the shared culture, education and innovation that continue to link Scotland and Japan.
I extend a warm welcome to the distinguished guests who join us in the gallery: the consul general of Japan and the cultural consul to the consulate-general of Japan in Edinburgh. It has been an honour to welcome our guests to the Parliament and to nurture the international friendships that mean so much to Scotland. Just last week, I had the pleasure of meeting the consul general at a meeting of the cross-party group on Japan, where I also met His Excellency the Japanese ambassador to the United Kingdom. It has been a week of making Scottish-Japanese connections.
The scale of Glover’s global impact is truly extraordinary. He supported five young Japanese students to travel to Britain to study. Known as the Choshu five, they went on to help to build modern Japan, and included one who became a Prime Minister who shaped the country’s constitution, and others who made advancements in railway systems, modern engineering and infrastructure, and reform of currency and finance. One made his mark on the education system in several ways, including introducing education for deaf people.
That connection brings this story very close to home for me. As many members will know, my father is deaf, but they might not know that he is also a deaf historian. About this time last year, he introduced me to Dr Manako Yabe, a deaf Japanese academic and postdoctoral research associate at Heriot-Watt University, whose work focuses on deaf studies and communications technology. I am delighted to welcome Dr Yabe to the gallery today. My father and Dr Yabe had connected at a deaf history event in Edinburgh and began exploring historical links between Scotland and Japan. During those conversations they discovered that Thomas Blake Glover had supported the very group of scholars who helped to introduce deaf education in Japan.
Knowing the significance of Fraserburgh to me, my father invited me to meet him and Dr Yabe in the town, to visit the Glover garden on Commerce Street, which is the very site of Glover’s birthplace. The garden has been lovingly created and is maintained by the owner, Michael Mennie, who warmly welcomed us. He also shared with us stories of his own visit to the Glover garden in Nagasaki, where Glover’s former home is now preserved and visited by millions. In Japan, Glover is remembered, respected and celebrated.
After that visit, and our conversations with Michael, I thought, “Why not do something here, in Fraserburgh?” I began speaking to local community leaders and, before long, a festival committee was formed as a branch of the Rotary Club of Fraserburgh. The committee consists of passionate volunteers who have given their time, energy and hearts to creating something truly special for the town that they love, and in an extraordinarily short space of time. Although she is far too modest to take credit herself, I want to recognise Councillor Ann Bell, who, as chair of the committee, has played a central role in co-ordinating the work of all who have been involved.
This Sunday, 8 June, we will come together for the inaugural Thomas Blake Glover festival. The festival is not just about looking back but about bringing people together to celebrate Fraserburgh’s connections with the wider world and everything that we have to be proud of. There is so much talent and creativity in the town. The festival’s afternoon programme will feature performances by incredible local talent.
Sunday will also be a day to celebrate our international friendships. We will be joined by several distinguished guests, including the consul general; the Mitsubishi Corporation’s deputy chief regional officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa; Ronnie Watt OBE, who is a recipient of the order of the rising sun; and Lady Saltoun. I fear listing every person and group in case I inadvertently leave someone out, but I note that the full programme and list of distinguished guests will be available online for those who wish to follow the celebrations.
On the day, we will plant a cherry blossom tree in Glover’s memory, right there on the site of his birth. It will be a living symbol of connection and growth, with roots in the Broch, just like Glover, but looking upwards to the rising sun, and blossoming each year on the lead-up to his birthday, so reminding us of our connections with Japan. That connection continues in ways that feel almost poetic. Anyone who stands at Fraserburgh harbour—where Glover’s father once worked as harbour master—and looks out to sea will see wind turbines that form part of the Ocean Winds Moray east offshore wind project. Those turbines have links with Mitsubishi—the very company that Glover helped bring into being.
Fraserburgh is a town where people simply get on with it, and they work very hard. It is a place with global reach and a thriving fishing industry. The people there continually recognise and act on their potential. There are plans to expand the harbour, a master plan for future growth, and a strong and growing campaign to bring back rail to connect Fraserburgh to Aberdeen.
I believe that those are the kinds of forward-looking projects that would have resonated with Glover. He introduced Japan’s first steam locomotive, he modernised shipbuilding and he supported education and reform. He was a connector of people and ideas and a true visionary. I believe that he would be proud of what is happening in Fraserburgh, not just because we are remembering him, but because we are building something worthy of the legacy that he left behind. It is about making sure that a boy who was born on Commerce Street 187 years ago is not just remembered but celebrated, and that, through him, we remember what Fraserburgh has contributed to the world and what it can still contribute.
I thank everyone who has helped to make this happen, including the festival committee, the Rotary Club of Fraserburgh, Michael Mennie, Councillor Ann Bell, Dr Manako Yabe and, of course, my father, who introduced me to the legacy of Thomas Blake Glover—a wee boy from the Broch.
I, too, welcome the consul general.
We move to the open debate.
12:56
Konnichiwa. I thank Karen Adam for securing the time for today’s members’ business debate.
As we have heard, Thomas Glover was a truly remarkable man with roots that run deep in the north-east of Scotland. A strategist and an industrialist, he is lauded for his role, as we have heard, in establishing the Mitsubishi Corporation, a powerhouse of the Japanese industrial revolution.
Known as the Scottish samurai, Glover is venerated in Japan for his key contribution to industrialisation and modernisation, and that is why he was awarded the order of the rising sun, an extraordinary accolade for a man who hailed from the Broch.
As we have heard, Glover was born in Fraserburgh in 1838 on Commerce Street and educated in Aberdeen. Stonehaven, too, has a strong link to the man known as the Scottish samurai. In 2021, pupils from Mill O’Forest, Arduthie and Dunnottar primary schools worked with the Stonehaven sea cadets and the Stonehaven Horizon group to plant 120 cherry blossom trees in Mineralwell park. The garden was dedicated to the memory of Glover and is a living testament to his ingenuity and legacy.
As part of the Sakura cherry tree project, the garden has joined more than 1,000 parks, gardens and schools across the United Kingdom in marking 150 years of Japan-United Kingdom friendship and the continued co-operation between our two nations. The project was launched by the Japanese former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and the UK Conservative former Prime Minister, Theresa May, in 2021.
There are always strong community champions behind such brilliant initiatives. Aberdeenshire councillor, Wendy Agnew, working with local MP Andrew Bowie, spearheaded the project and helped to see it through over a four-year period. It has been enchanting residents and visitors ever since. Wendy thanks the consul general and the whole of Japan for what she said is a very generous gift to Stonehaven. On behalf of the community, she would like to invite the Japanese consul general to place a plaque in the garden when the blossoms are out in spring next year.
As we underline the importance of Thomas Blake Glover, we can also take the opportunity to think about many Scots who left Britain to start inspiring adventures on the other side of the world. The Davidson family from Aberlemno, near Brechin, moved to Wisconsin in the USA and, with Englishman Bill Harley, became the founders of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. David Dunbar Buick, the Arbroath-born plumber, became an icon in the United States after founding the Buick Motor Company.
Along with Thomas Glover, those individuals were self-starters, adventurers and visionaries, and they are testament to the incredible spirit of the north-east. Arigato.
12:59
I congratulate my friend and colleague Karen Adam on securing today’s members’ business debate on Thomas Blake Glover.
There is a very long list of folk from Aberdeen—whether they were born there, grew up there or lived there later in life—who have helped to shape the world as we know it today. We have a history of innovation, world-leading engineering and global influence, but we are absolutely dreadful at telling folk about it. We seem to not want to talk up our history or the folk who made it happen. Thomas Blake Glover is probably the best example of that in Aberdeen. He is at least somewhat known and spoken about, although a great part of that is due to the work of the Mitsubishi Corporation and its kind donations that saw his parents’ home in Bridge of Don, in my Aberdeen Donside constituency, turned into a museum.
We have a man who helped to shape Japan’s history by playing a role in its civil war, helping to rebuild its navy, introducing rail travel there—maybe, one day, we might even reintroduce rail services to his native Broch, as Karen Adam said—and playing an important role in the foundations of the two internationally recognised brands of Mitsubishi and Kirin.
Thomas Blake Glover is a man whom we should be talking about. The extraordinary life that he lived lends itself to storytelling, but far too many folk have not heard of him. I hope that today's debate will help more people to hear and learn about Thomas Blake Glover. If we can have success with him, we can maybe move on to some of our city’s five Nobel prize winners, or the great minds that came through King’s and Marischal colleges during the Scottish enlightenment.
However, let us start with Thomas Blake Glover. Karen Adam has already spoken about much of his life. It certainly was not boring or uncontroversial. He was an immigrant—well, an emigrant to us—he was an arms dealer; he was a criminal, due to the arms dealing, although he seems to have been forgiven as he sold only to the winning side and he commissioned warships for Japan in shipyards in Aberdeen; he ran a coal mine; he was a pioneer of public transport; he created jobs; and he owned a brewery. There is something there for everyone to have an opinion on.
It is certainly not a life that deserves to be forgotten, and it is disappointing that Glover house, his parents’ former home that I mentioned, is now sitting empty. It was bought by Mitsubishi in 1996, restored to what it would have looked like in the 1850s, and was given to the Grampian Japan Trust to run as a museum. In 2006, it moved to being run by Aberdeen City Council, before eventually closing in 2012 due to low visitor numbers and rising costs. I remember being given a tour and hosting Japanese dignitaries there back in the day, when I had the privilege of being depute provost of Aberdeen.
Money has been spent maintaining and repairing the house since, but 13 years later, the council is still looking for a suitable purpose for the building, and its condition is slowly getting worse. It needs to be lived in to survive, as is the case for all buildings—they decay much more quickly when unused.
Whatever form it takes, whether it is a museum or something else, we must ensure that Glover has a lasting and fitting legacy in Aberdeen. As our city looks beyond oil and gas, he is probably an example for someone who could help to build new industries. Some of that might involve tourism—in which case, we must get better at telling and marketing his story—or it might be done through entrepreneurship, and it is his spirit that we will need to tap into. I have spoken about the past; now, the question is, what will the future be?
I thank Karen Adam again for giving me a chance to talk about Thomas Blake Glover today.
13:04
Like other members, I thank Karen Adam for securing this phenomenally important debate, on a day on which its importance to members here should not have been overshadowed by events elsewhere. I extend my welcome to the honourable guests who join us today.
I had a lovely speech prepared. I wanted to talk about the number of Scottish people—unfortunately, mainly men—who emigrated abroad and became recognised for the fortunes that they made or the developments that they were involved in. Jackie Dunbar’s contribution allows me to mention James Paris Lee, of Lee-Enfield fame, the creator of the rifle, and the dubious, perhaps questionable actions of Charles Lockhart, who, of course, was one of the founders of Standard Oil. Jackie Dunbar phrased it so well when she said that we can all have an opinion on how those people operated.
However, I was much more taken by Karen Adam’s opening statement because, on 6 June 1838—the day on which the subject of our debate was born—John Muir was six weeks old. Although he was no doubt crying, mewling and being a challenging child to his mum, he was another hero come into the world. We see many similarities in the two stories. They left Scotland as children and where they grew up shaped what they did in their future.
John Muir, of course, was born in Dunbar. As the third of eight children—not the most important in the household—he looked around at the East Lothian landscape, ran riot and escaped, and he fell in love with nature and with landscape. Then, for other reasons, he travelled abroad—in his case to America, where he grew up. Because of those memories, those childhood experiences and his love of nature, he became known as “John of the mountains” and the “father of the national parks”. He was the man who converted Presidents, getting them to look at nature in a different way. He was one of those men who was able to shape the future of another country because of his enthusiasm, his skill and his passion for telling stories in order to bring together something important.
John Muir’s birthplace on Dunbar High Street is celebrated as a museum that is attended by schoolchildren from across East Lothian and further afield. It keeps that history alive and in place. As a result of John Muir, much money has come to the country from the US, and the museum is perhaps an example that can be followed elsewhere by local authorities, charities and supporters from outside the country to allow someone’s story to live. Then, perhaps, in another place a pupil in primary 5 can wander into what looks like an old-fashioned house, step outside and suddenly think, “Actually, no one can stop my future being what I want it to be, wherever it is and however it is made.”
Today’s debate about Thomas Blake Glover has allowed members across the chamber to look for their own heroes, and I hope that some can find heroines from their regions, too. It is perhaps always much more important for Scotland to look outwards than to look inwards. We celebrate our friends across the world who come here to find the history of people who are important in their own history. We meet them, we greet them and we celebrate that history. We use those experiences to teach our young people that there is genuinely nothing that they cannot achieve if they are born in Scotland and they look up.
13:08
I, too, congratulate Karen Adam on bringing the debate to Parliament.
Thomas Blake Glover is often hailed as the Scottish samurai. He was a remarkable figure who played an immense role in the modernisation of Japan during the 19th century. As Karen Adam has already pointed out, he was born in Fraserburgh. His family moved to Aberdeen in 1851, when his father became the chief coastguard in the area, and Thomas received part of his education at the Chanonry school in Old Aberdeen.
After leaving school, Glover embarked on a career with Jardine, Matheson & Co, which at that point was a major trading company, and his work took him to Shanghai in 1857. Two years later, he moved to Nagasaki in Japan, a nation that was in a period of isolation but which was about to experience some dramatic change. Initially, he was in Japan to work for Jardine, Matheson & Co, where he traded primarily in Japanese green tea, but his drive soon led him to found his own firm.
We have heard about some of Glover’s immense contributions from other speakers. In shipbuilding, he helped to establish in Nagasaki Japan’s first modern slip dock, a facility that was crucial for ship repairs. He later sold his share to the Japanese Government, which subsequently leased it to Mitsubishi, marking a foundational step for the corporation. He also helped to commission several warships for the Imperial Japanese Navy from shipyards in Aberdeen, including the Jho Sho Maru, which later became the Ryujo Maru, which launched in 1869.
As Jackie Dunbar mentioned, Glover was involved in mining, opening a coal mine on Hashima Island and introducing modern mining techniques. He was responsible for introducing the first steam locomotive, the Iron Duke, to Japan in 1865, which led to folks seeing the potential for railway transportation—Japan has truly grasped that with its railway network today. As has already been mentioned, he also established a brewery, the Kirin Brewery Company. I believe that this is an urban myth, but it has been said that the moustache on the creature on Kirin beer labels is a tribute to Glover’s prominent facial hair—I do not know whether that is true.
Glover made an immense contribution to Japan and its links with the north-east of Scotland, which led to much trade, including Aberdeen’s export of the world-renowned Crombie cloth. In my humble opinion, that trading network has to be celebrated.
We need to do more to celebrate Thomas Blake Glover. Like Jackie Dunbar, I hope that more can be done to renovate Glover house in Aberdeen to make it a place where folks from the north-east, Japan and elsewhere can visit and learn about the fabulous Thomas Blake Glover.
I call Douglas Lumsden as the final speaker in the open debate.
13:13
I congratulate Karen Adam on securing the motion for debate and thank her for educating us more about Thomas Blake Glover.
Today’s debate gives us an opportunity to celebrate someone from the north-east who is probably more famous outside the area than in it, as Jackie Dunbar noted. It also gives us an opportunity to celebrate Scotland’s strong links with Japan, which I witnessed at first hand when I was leader of Aberdeen City Council. Aberdeen signed a memorandum of understanding with Kobe in Japan in 2019, strengthening the links between the cities. Today, I am wearing my Kobe tartan tie, which is a gift that I received when a delegation visited Aberdeen to sign the agreement. It is not just tartan that we have in common; I also learned about our shared love of whisky.
When I was a councillor, I became aware of Thomas Blake Glover, his impact and the important role that he played in the industrialisation of Japan. I also learned that the council owned Glover house, which, as we have heard, was the Glover family’s home in Bridge of Don. I remember my conversations with Richard Sweetnam, a council officer who was sadly taken from us too young, about how big a deal Glover was and how, as a city, we should make more of a deal of him and celebrate him, which would be an opportunity for tourism. That view was shared by all parties in Aberdeen City Council. We did not often agree, but we did agree on Glover.
The then Lord Provost, Barney Crockett, was heavily involved with Mitsubishi to see whether we could take a partnership approach to utilising Glover house in Bridge of Don. I seem to remember that Martin Gilbert and Aberdeen Asset Management were also involved in that process.
Regrettably, in my time as a councillor, we could not come up with a sustainable plan on what to do with Glover house. We worked with the University of Aberdeen and Mitsubishi on a plan to use part of Glover house as a museum celebrating Glover, and part of it for Japanese students attending the University of Aberdeen to live in. However, that plan fell through when Covid struck, and I do not believe that any plan has come forward since then, which is a real shame.
I visited Glover house with a delegation from Kobe in 2019. It would be sad to see the house fall into further disrepair. It is part of the history of the north-east, and it should be protected. I hope that a sustainable future can be found for the house. My lasting memory of that visit was the friendliness of our Japanese guests. Their warmth and kindness, and their interest in Glover, will stay with me and made me determined to visit Japan in the near future. When I am there, I hope that I will visit the Thomas Blake Glover statue in Nagasaki to pay my respects to the man from the north-east who made such a huge impact in Japan.
I wish the organisers of the Thomas Blake Glover festival every success for the upcoming event.
13:16
I thank all members who have taken part in the debate and Karen Adam for lodging the motion. I also extend my welcome to our honourable visitors.
Scotland’s relationship with Japan has endured for centuries and continues to grow from strength to strength. Indeed, I had the pleasure, when I was the cabinet secretary with responsibility for external affairs, of promoting Scotland’s economy and other interests on three visits to Japan over the 11 years when I held that portfolio. Our relationship is marked by a deep mutual respect and admiration for one another’s traditions and cultures, as well as an eagerness to promote further collaboration wherever possible. Last week, the First Minister hosted Japan’s ambassador to the UK at Bute house to recognise the close relationship that Scotland and Japan share.
Our shared history is marked by numerous pioneers who continue to have a significant impact on our relations to this day. Thomas Blake Glover is rightly seen as someone who has great significance in the development of modern Japan. His name is synonymous with the early links between Japan and Scotland. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Mitsubishi Corporation, helping to develop its shipbuilding operations. Mitsubishi has gone on to become one of Japan’s largest trading companies, employing more than 60,000 people. His legacy lives on today in both nations. I congratulate Karen Adams’s father for helping us to rediscover the deaf education connection between Scotland and Japan.
The Glover house and garden, which sits in Nagasaki, allows visitors to learn about Glover’s life and influence on Japan, including the technologies that he helped to advance. Up to 2 million people visit it annually, which ensures that his history is not forgotten.
In 2015, I was lucky enough to see that marvellous garden on a trip to Japan, when I also visited the wider Nagasaki industrial area and Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co, which is still there. I was given the honour of a tour of the Thomas Blake Glover house by trustees, and, interestingly, I saw some framed calligraphy on the wall. I asked for a translation. It said:
“The ocean is a field”.
That obviously held meaning for Thomas Blake Glover in relation to trading and shipbuilding. There is an interesting connection with Fraserburgh, with its links to the ocean as a field being its fishing and the future opportunities with the sea.
During my visit, I presented Japanese stakeholders with 3D digital models of the Nagasaki industrial site, which was scanned as part of the Scottish Ten project, which is a joint collaboration between Historic Environment Scotland and the Glasgow School of Art. That scanned data helped to conserve a site that was of major significance to Thomas Blake Glover and other prominent Scots who were present in Japan in the 19th century, and it was influential in securing the site’s United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization world heritage status
As we have heard, we now have the Glover garden in Fraserburgh, which acts as a memorial to mark Thomas Blake Glover’s birthplace and is a demonstration of the connection and friendship between Scotland and Japan. As part of the memorial, the inaugural Thomas Blake Glover festival will take place on 8 June, marking his contributions to both nations.
Thomas Glover’s legacy transcends even his industrial ventures. A series of Japanese-Scotch whisky fusions have been created and named after him to honour his achievements—it is very fitting to see him memorialised through Scotland’s national drink. Thomas Blake Glover was a true pioneer, and it is only right that he is remembered in Scotland as he is in Japan.
Reflecting on the remarks of Jackie Dunbar and Douglas Lumsden, I think that there is an issue about what happens with the Glover house in Aberdeen. An idea was being explored—this was before Covid—to base Japanese students there. The Nippon Foundation is encouraging and supporting students to study in Scotland, so perhaps that is an avenue that can be explored.
I firmly believe that, as a friendly, open and outward-looking nation, Scotland should always encourage and explore connections with other nations, as Martin Whitfield pointed out in his thoughtful speech. Thomas Blake Glover’s life and legacy is a prime example of the impact that Scottish individuals and businesses can have abroad, and the best tribute, as Karen Adam said, is using that legacy to build for the future. The Scottish Government’s “Scottish Connections Framework”, which was launched in 2023, sets out our ambitions to expand our relationships with and between Scotland’s international communities. We are rightly proud of our long history of intellectual, cultural and economic exchange. Scotland’s diaspora and our Scottish connections are an extension of Scotland itself.
The Scottish Government welcomes the development of the Glover garden in Fraserburgh, which is an initiative that honours someone who made a significant contribution to the development of Japan. It will serve as a reminder of the long-standing connection between Scotland and Japan and as a symbol of our lasting friendship. On behalf of the Scottish Government, I wish the organisers well in delivering the first Thomas Blake Glover festival, and I hope that the day is a great success. I thank the local constituency MSP, Karen Adam, for lodging her motion and for bringing this debate to our national Parliament.
That concludes the debate.
Meeting closed at 13:22.Air ais
Decision Time