He is a wealthy Scottish noble married to Lady Glenarvan.

Lord Glenarvan owns a yacht called the Duncan, which he uses to help find Captain Grant of the Britannia, who is being sought by his children Robert and Mary.

After many travels and misfortunes he and his crew eventually finds the captain in the conclusion of In Search of the Castaways.

In Among the Cannibals, Lord Glenarvan threatens to kill his wife to prevent her from being taken captive by a group of Maori.

[2][3] Russian playwright Mikhail Bulgakov used the character in a 1928 comedy, The Crimson Island, as a spoof of Western European colonialism.