Thomas Blake Glover was one of the Broch's most famous sons. He was born in 1838, the fifth of eight children. His father was a coastguard officer, an important job here. However, the family moved away when Thomas was six. He ended his schooldays in Aberdeen and joined the Scottish trading firm Jardine Matheson, in the Far East. After some years in Japan, he set up his own company in Nagasaki. The Glover Garden House he built there now attracts millions of visitors.

Glover played a large part in developing industry in Japan. He was involved in railways, coal-mining, brewing and more. He set up a shipbuilding company that became the Mitsubishi Corporation.

Glover was rather less famous for his early involvement in supplying rifles to rebellious samurai groups. They were seeking to restore the deposed emperor to power. Later, he enjoyed a long common-law marriage to a Japanese woman. He was held in the highest regard in his adopted country which awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun. He died in 1911.