Sam Smith (Australian politician)

Samuel "Sam" Smith (1857 – 22 January 1916) was an Australian union official and politician.

Smith's early life is unclear in that his parliamentary biography states he was born on 17 February 1857 in Ayrshire, Scotland, to Samuel Smith and Marion Hunter,[1] while the City of Sydney Archives states that he was born on 29 January 1857 in Glasgow, to Elizabeth née Hunter and David Smith, shoemaker.

[2] He attended school at Kilwinning and became a colliery lad at the age of eleven, becoming active in the Glasgow Railway and Seaman's Union.

[2] In March 1902 Smith was appointed to the Court of Arbitration on the recommendation of the Industrial Unions of Employees.

[5] He was re-elected for a further term in April 1905,[6] however a temporary replacement was appointed in September,[7] and in around November 1905 he was committed to the Hospital for the Insane at Callan Park.