The eminent anaesthetist was born in South Shields, the son of a merchant and was baptised at St John's church. Details of his life are patchy, but he seems to have become proficient in both Latin and French.
He worked in Edinburgh, on the continent in Paris and Geneva before moving back to Newcastle in 1839, where he practised at the Easter Free Dispensary. His brother William joined him and they both lived at 12 Northumberland Street He lectured at the Lit and Phil on eleven occasions, as well as teaching and writing numerous articles, which were quoted by the great John Snow (q.v.) and other leading medical men. He demonstrated the physical effect of chloroform in the laboratory in 1842 and carried out extensive clinical experiments in Newcastle.
In January 1848 fifteen-year-old Hannah Greener from Winlaton died under anaesthetic in the surgeon's office while undergoing a routine toe-nail removal. She is usually reckoned to be the first casualty of chloroform anaesthesia. Glover assisted Sir John Fife (q.v.) with the autopsy.
In 1851, a ludicrous situation developed in Newcastle when dignified rival physicians, including Glover, carried out night raids to appropriate one another's pathological specimens. Glover left for London in late 1853 or early 1854 and worked at the Royal Free Hospital. He also spent time in the Crimean War hospitals. His career, however was in decline. Addicted to opium and chloroform, he nevertheless in 1858 wrote a long elegant review of the history of anaesthetics - an amazing feat for an addict. In 1859 he married Sarah Hickson (from Newcastle), who had escaped from the lunatic asylum at Colney Hatch. The eccentric couple spent only one impecunious week together before she was taken back.
Glover died from an overdose of chloroform that year, only the second professional after Horace Wells to succumb to chloroform addiction.
Glover, like many in this compilation, was good-natured and gregarious. An odd circumstance is that no photos exist of him; on pictures of colleagues in Newcastle, Edinburgh or the Crimea, Glover never appears.