Samuel (Sam) Rawlin (1860–1938)
This article was published:
- in the Biographical Register of the Australian Labour Movement, 1788-1975
- online in 2024
Samuel (Sam) Rawlin (1860-1938) gas company employee and trade union official
Birth: 1860 at Creswick, Victoria, son of Nicholas Rawlin (1822-1865), copper ore miner, and Catherine, née Quick (1825-1865). Both parents were born at Gwennap, Cornwall, England. Marriage: 1885 at Grafton, New South Wales, to native-born Ellen (Nellie) Marsh (1866-1937). They had five daughters and four sons. Death: 5 November 1938 at his residence in Tennyson Road, Mortlake, Sydney, New South Wales. Religion: Congregational.
- His parents had arrived in Victoria about 1858.
- Samuel started working life aged 13. Worked in mines at 16. Navvying on railway construction work in 1883. Joined Gas Company, Mortlake, as a labourer in 1886. Later worked as a stoker and then became foreman of the retort house, accepting the position after he had consulted his fellow unionists.
- Foundation member in 1884 and honorary secretary of the Gas Stokers' Protective Association. Resigning from the gas company, he became paid union secretary from 1907. He was secretary general (a permanent official) of the Gas Employees’ Union from 1911 until he retired for health reasons in July 1932.
- Sometime director of the Labor Daily (Sydney).
- Cause of death: coronary thrombosis and arteriosclerosis.
Sources
Labor Daily, 13 January 1927; Rosemary Broomham, First Light: 150 Years of Gas (Sydney, 1987) pp 101, 111, 125.
Additional Resources and Scholarship
- history of Gas Employees Union, Co-operator (Sydney), 7 October 1912, p 12
- profile, Sun (Sydney), 5 March 1913, p 1
- short profile, Labor Daily (Sydney), 13 January 1927, p 8
- retires as secretary of union, Labor Daily (Sydney), 23 July 1932, p 4
Related Entries in NCB Sites
Citation details
'Rawlin, Samuel (Sam) (1860–1938)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/rawlin-samuel-sam-34711/text43676, accessed 27 April 2025.
Life Summary [details]
Birth
1860
Creswick,
Victoria,
Australia
Death
5 November,
1938
(aged ~ 78)
Mortlake, Sydney,
New South Wales,
Australia
Cause of Death
Cultural Heritage
Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.
Religious Influence
Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.