cartoonist, sketcher and lithographer, was born in Lambeth, Surrey, son of the artist Henry Heath Glover and his wife, née Gerrard. He was apprenticed to his father at the age of thirteen then placed under Reichert at Kohler & Co., lithographers of Denmark Street, Soho Square, London, where he worked for two years. He returned to his father for a time then was employed by Dean & Sons, lithographers of Threadneedle Street where he met Edward Gilks . He remained at Deans until leaving for South Australia in 1848 with his father and younger brother. Their business ventures in Adelaide failed and, after four years on the goldfields of Bendigo and Ballarat, Glover returned to illustrative work. Six of his goldfields’ sketches were published as lithographs by Cyrus Mason in 1855.
According to his death certificate, Glover lived in South Australia for eight years, but this must have been concurrent with his goldfields’ experiences. In about 1856 he married Johanna Farrell at Tamworth, New South Wales, and they settled in Melbourne. His series of humorous sketches, 12 Hours Road Scraping in Melbourne, Scraped from the Streets and Sketched on Stone by Henry Glover , was published there by Edgar Ray in 1857 (copy Dixson Library Px 145, included in 1999 State Library of New South Wales black and white exhibition). Early in 1858 his view of the Grand International Cricket Match between Victoria and New South Wales was published by E.L. Robinson and in the 1859 Melbourne Directory he was listed as an artist of Rosslyn Street. At about this time he joined the firm of De Gruchy & Leigh, where he spent three years as an engraver and lithographer.
In 1864 the Glovers moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, Henry having been appointed head artist in the newly-established lithographic printing department of the firm of Crosbie Ward and William Reeves, proprietors of the Lyttleton Times . Among his earliest work for the firm was a design for the honorary certificate awarded at the 1865 New Zealand Exhibition in Dunedin for which he received a bronze medal. The certificate was printed as a chromolithograph by Ward & Reeves and the firm was awarded another bronze medal for the introduction of chromolithography into New Zealand. During this period Glover also contributed many cartoons to Canterbury Punch (1864-68).
In December 1868 he returned to Melbourne and worked for Fergusson & Mitchell. His chromolithograph, Three Maries (after Annibale Carracci) , obtained first prize at the Melbourne Public Library Exhibition. He became a foundation member of the Victorian Academy of Arts in February 1870 and exhibited two watercolour sketches, Diggers Return and Greek Soldier , at the academy’s first exhibition. From 1872 he was exhibiting at the New South Wales Academy of Art, having moved to Sydney to join S.T. Leigh & Co. as chief draughtsman and manager of their lithographic department in March 1870. He held this position for seventeen years until unfairly dismissed. Later he worked for the Philip-Stephen Photo-Litho Company, Ackhurst & Co. and David James & Co., then on his own account until his death. Altogether, he spent thirty-five years in Sydney.
Johanna Glover died in Sydney on 10 October 1871, having borne five sons and three daughters. In 1873 Glover married Jane Elizabeth Clift; they had four daughters and three sons. Henry Glover died at his son Arthur’s house, 8 Oaks Street, North Sydney, on 15 June 1904. He was buried in St Thomas’s Church of England Cemetery, North Sydney. A son, Charles Glover (1863-1938), worked for the Victorian Department of Mines as a lithographic artist and draughtsman.
- Writers:
- Darragh, Thomas A.
Note:
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 1989
