He was schooled initially at Tiverton by the clergyman John Moore, and afterwards at Exeter by André de Majendie, an émigré Huguenot pastor.

[1] They had four daughters: Mary (Mrs. Parminter), who predeceased her father, Elizabeth, Ann (Mrs. Lowder), and Melina or Melony (Mrs. Daniell).

[1] To his brother Samuel Glass, a surgeon at Oxford, he imparted a process of preparing magnesia alba, an absorbent antacid and mild purgative which was particularly recommended for infants.

Samuel perfected the preparation, published in 1764 an Essay on its use and salutary effects as a medicine, and derived a handsome profit from its sale.

In 1783 he received a laudatory address from eleven members of the Exeter Medical Society, who presented his portrait, painted by John Opie, to the hospital.

[4] He wrote also: Glass was considered the greatest English authority after Sir William Watson on inoculation for the small-pox.