19 Facts About Sydney Sampson

Sydney Sampson was an Australian businessman and politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1906 to 1919, representing the Division of Wimmera in Victoria.

Sydney Sampson was the fourth of seven children born to Mary Jane and John Sampson.

Sydney Sampson's mother died when he was about eight years old, and his father remarried to a widow with four children of her own; two children from that marriage brought his total number of siblings to twelve.

Sydney Sampson's father worked initially as a gold miner and later as a wood carter.

Sydney Sampson was president of the Creswick Miners' Association, which he had helped found with William Spence, and later treasurer of the local branch of the Amalgamated Miners' Association.

Sydney Sampson was forced out of the industry by mine owners in response to his leadership of a strike.

Sydney Sampson moved to Warracknabeal, and farmed in the Mallee for several years.

Sydney Sampson started a local newspaper, the Jeparit Leader, and soon sold the store to his brother-in-law James Menzies in order to concentrate on the paper.

Sydney Sampson eventually sold the Leader in 1899 and purchased the Warracknabeal Herald, which had a larger market.

At the 1906 federal election, Sydney Sampson was elected to the House of Representatives in the Division of Wimmera, winning 51.6 percent of the vote against four other candidates.

Sydney Sampson won the endorsement of the local Protectionist Associations, but refused to guarantee support for the Deakin government and sat in parliament as an "independent Protectionist and anti-Socialist".

Sydney Sampson eventually joined the new Commonwealth Liberal Party in 1909 and then the Nationalist Party in 1917.

Sydney Sampson was re-elected unopposed in 1914 and 1917, but in 1919 lost his seat to Percy Stewart of the Victorian Farmers' Union.

Sydney Sampson was a member of the Committee on Public Works from 1914 to 1919, and served on three royal commissions.

Sydney Sampson was a supporter of compulsory voting, and proposed an amendment to that effect during the debate over what became the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.

Sydney Sampson's amendment was defeated comfortably, but a similar amendment was passed in 1924 and is still in force.

Sydney Sampson was a director of the Country Press Co-operative of Victoria, and served on the boards of a pottery firm and a fire insurance company.

Sydney Sampson was a mentor to his nephew Robert Menzies, who followed him into politics and would become the longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia.

Sydney Sampson died at his home in Camberwell on 24 March 1948.