Samuel Leigh

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.

Early life Born in Milton, in the Staffordshire county of England, on 1 September 1785, Samuel Leigh was the son of an engineer, Matthew Leigh. His education was limited and he was raised in the Congregational church. Desiring to become a minister, he trained at a seminary at Gosport, under David Bogue. Disagreeing with the severe Calvinistic teachings of Bogue, he decided to become a minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. Initially an assistant to the Reverend Joseph Sutcliffe at Portsmouth, he spent two years on the Shaftesbury circuit before he was ordained in 1814. He intended to perform missionary work of behalf of the Wesleyan Missionary Society (WMS). He was selected to go to Montreal in Canada, in response to a request from missionaries there. This was then canceled and Leigh was instead dispatched to New South Wales, in Australia, in February 1815.

Service in Australia On 10 August 1815, Leigh arrived in Sydney aboard the Hebe. He initially began preaching at the Rocks, where there was already a Wesleyan presence. He soon moved to a rural location, at Castlereagh, and by 1817, the first Methodist church in Australia had been built there with Leigh opening it in October that year. Further religious facilities were opened in the locations of Parramatta, Liverpool and at Windsor; at the latter, he laid the first foundation stone to commence the construction of a chapel there. By March 1819, a total of 14 institutions had been built and this constituted the first Methodist circuit in Australia. To traverse it would take Leigh three weeks, covering . He was also instrumental in the foundation of the Colonial Auxiliary Bible Society.

The chaplain of New South Wales was Samuel Marsden, who became close friends with Leigh. When Leigh became ill in 1819, Marsden facilitated a visit for him to New Zealand to help with his recuperation. He was hosted by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in the Bay of Islands. The members of the CMS were at odds in the running of their activities and Leigh suggested they base their activities upon the circuit model, similar to that used in the Wesleyan mission in Australia. Leigh also thought that the WMS should establish its own mission for the local Māori.

Later life In Sydney, Leigh's health was still not robust but he soon became involved with the Methodist circuit in Sydney, temporarily acting as its superintendent for a time. He later worked on the Parramatta circuit. His wife died on 15 May 1831 and the following year, Leigh returned to England. He is also remembered in New South Wales, through the naming of the Leigh Memorial Centenary Church, in Parramatta, and the Leigh Theological College, in Enfield.