Samuel Leigh | |
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| Born | 1 September 1785 Milton, Staffordshire, England |
| Died | 2 May 1852 (aged 66) Reading, England |
| Occupation(s) | Missionary Minister |
Samuel Leigh (1 September 1785 – 2 May 1852) was a prominent minister and missionary for the Wesleyan Methodist Church in early colonial New South Wales and New Zealand.
Born in England, he went to Australia in 1815 and established the first Wesleyan circuit in New South Wales. He first visited New Zealand in 1819 at the behest of Samuel Marsden. After that visit, he went back to England and proposed the establishment of a Wesleyan Missionary Society (WMS) mission for the Māori people of the country. Newly married, he returned to New Zealand in 1822 to establish the first WMS mission there, at Kaeo, near Whangaroa Harbour. He left in August 1823 on account of his poor health and returned to Sydney where he worked in the Australian ministry, until 1831, the year that his wife died. He returned to England the following year, working in the ministry there for the next several years and remarrying. He retired in 1845 and moved to Reading, where he died on 2 May 1852 at the age of 66.