John Hawley Glover

Sir John Hawley Glover GCMG (24 February 1829 – 30 September 1885) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Governor of Lagos Colony, Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Governor of British Leeward Islands.

He 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 (4 February 1853). During his years of service as lieutenant in the navy he gained considerable experience of the coast of Africa, and took part in the expedition of Dr WB Baikie up the Niger. Glover also commanded a gunboat that patrolled the Lagos Lagoon in 1861.

On 21 April 1863 he was appointed administrator of the government of Lagos Colony, and in that capacity, or as colonial secretary, he remained there till 1872. His style of governing Lagos was controversial to officials in the British Colonial office who complained about his "disregard for all rules and orders". To Lagosians, however, Glover was popular and was affectionally called Oba Globar because of his adoption of patterns rooted in local culture. He presided over many Lagosians disputes, bypassing newly instituted colonial courts. He shrewdly cultivated relationships with Lagosians such as Oshodi Tapa, Kosoko, and Taiwo Olowo who were previously beneficiaries of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and encouraged them along the path of legitimate commerce. Curiously, these were political foes of the now weakened Oba of Lagos, Dosunmu who ceded Lagos to Britain in August 1861 under the Lagos Treaty of Cession. In return, Glover's cultivated network of Lagosian loyalists provided him with intelligence and information that enabled him to govern effectively.

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