[4] Educated at the Catholic University School and Belvedere College,[3] he was then apprenticed to a Dublin druggist, Cornelius Mannin,[5][6] but in 1879 Jimmy travelled to France with his grandfather, spent three months in a monastery at Caen to improve his French[7] (later reported incorrectly as the Lycée de Caen[3]), then learnt to play the violin under a master in Paris, while also acting as unpaid Paris correspondent of an illustrated London paper called The Entr'acte.
In February 1880 he arrived in London and gained his first position as musical director in Charles Colette's burlesque company.
Over a 30-year period Glover worked alongside Arthur Collins and arranged the music for most of his productions, including the Drury Lane pantomimes, and became a significant figure in London's West End.
He formed friendships with many leading actors and musical theatre performers and wrote books of memoirs which captured this side of his life.
[1] According to one account, Glover considered the height of his career was being commanded by King George V to arrange a performance in May 1911 of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's play Money, in honour of a visit to England by the Emperor and Empress of Germany.