Henry William Sampson

Henry William Sampson (12 May 1872 – 6 August 1938), often known as "Sammy", was an English-born South African trade unionist and politician.

Born in Islington London, Sampson completed an apprenticeship as a compositor and joined the London Society of Compositors. In 1892, he emigrated to the Cape Colony, where he joined the Cape Town Typographical Union, and was a founder of the Cape Town Trades Council. Following a strike, in 1897, he moved to East London, where he founded a local branch of the new South African Typographical Union (SATU), serving as its president for five years.

In 1903, Sampson moved to Johannesburg to become president of SATU, also becoming secretary of the Witwatersrand Trades Council. In these roles, he opposed Chinese immigration. He also founded the Transvaal Independent Labour Party (ILP), Transvaal Political Labour League, and the Transvaal Federation of Trade Unions.