Reverend James Way, his father, was a clergyman in the Bible Christian Church, who emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia in 1850 along with his wife and four younger children to establish a mission.

He was soon employed in the office of John Tuthill Bagot, at that time a barrister, and in 1856 became an articled clerk to Alfred Atkinson (c. 1825 – 4 June 1861), solicitor of King William Street.

Way continued to be highly successful, travelling to London to argue a number of cases before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

In 1874, Way was elected as a member of the council of the University of Adelaide, and was also appointed to the South Australian Board of Education.

In 1899 he was created a Baronet, of Montefiore, North Adelaide, and Kadlunga Mintaro, both in the Colony of South Australia.

[8] In October 1905, it was Way who publicly pronounced that Catherine Helen Spence, writer and suffragist, social worker and feminist was the most distinguished woman in Australia.

[1] The Sir Samuel Way Building on Victoria Square, Adelaide, was originally a major retail outlet for Charles Moore and Co.