During his years of service as lieutenant in the navy he gained considerable experience off the coast of Africa, and took part in the expedition of Dr WB Baikie up the Niger.

[1] His style of governing Lagos was controversial to officials in the British Colonial office who complained about his "disregard for all rules and orders".

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.

In return, Glover's cultivated network of Lagosian loyalists provided him with intelligence and information that enabled him to govern effectively.

[2] He raised their pay and provided them with smart uniforms that broadcast their status of free men and agents of the British colonial government.

When the Third Anglo-Ashanti War broke out in 1873, Captain Glover undertook the task of organizing the native people, whose hatred of the Ashantis might be expected to make them favourable to the British authorities—to the extent at least to which their fears would allow them to act.