Samuel Meredith (Western Samoan politician)
Samuel Meredith | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Legislative Council | |
| In office 1929–1932 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 May 1877 Samoa |
| Died | 1936 (aged 59) |
Samuel Hornell Meredith (9 May 1877 – 1936) was a Western Samoan businessman and politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Council from 1929 to 1932.
Biography[edit]
Meredith was born in Samoa to a British father and Samoan mother and became a merchant. In 1910 he was part of a group that petitioned the German authorities for the introduction of local government in the territory.[1] During the Spanish flu pandemic, seven members of his close family died.[2] He was later given the Samoan chiefly title Tupua.[3]
A critic of the New Zealand administration of Samoa,[4] he contested the first elections to the Legislative Council in 1924, but failed to be elected. He helped the anti-colonial Mau movement gain formal legal representation from a firm of solicitors in New Zealand in 1927,[3] and ran for election again in 1929, this time successfully, as he was elected in second place behind Alexander W. Johnston.
Following a term in office, his chances of re-election in 1932 were seen as slim,[5] and he went on to finish last out of the five candidates contesting the vote.[6]
He died in 1936 at the age of 59 following a long illness.[7]
References[edit]
- ^ Margery Perham & Anthony Hamilton Millard Kirk-Greene (1988) Pacific prelude: a journey to Samoa and Australasia, 1929, p234
- ^ Up front with the editor Pacific Islands Monthly, November 1969, p4
- ^ a b Kilifoti Sisilia Eteuati (1982) Evaevaga a Samoa: Assertion of Samoan autonomy 1920–1936
- ^ The Mau Pacific Islands Monthly, December 1963, p93
- ^ Mr Meredith and the minister Pacific Islands Monthly, November 1932, p39
- ^ Samoan elections, Pacific Islands Monthly, December 1932, p38
- ^ Mr. Samuel H. Meredith Pacific Islands Monthly, December 1935, p35