Samuel Edward Lees was an Australian politician.

Born in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 to painter and glazier Samuel Lees and Caroline Whitehead, he attended William Street National School but was mostly self-educated. He was apprenticed as a printer and ultimately owned his own printing works from around 1869, expanding into several other interests including building companies in the 1880s. On 30 September 1871 he married Sarah Amy Davies, with whom he had five children. From 1879 to 1909 he was a member of Sydney City Council

City of Sydney

The City of Sydney is the Local Government Area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia...

, serving as mayor in 1895 and 1904. In 1887 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 as the Free Trade

Free Trade Party

The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states and renamed the Anti-Socialist Party in 1906, was an Australian political party, formally organised between 1889 and 1909...

 member for Nepean

Electoral district of Nepean (New South Wales)

Nepean was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, originally created in 1859, and named after the Nepean River. It was abolished in 1904 with the downsizing of the Assembly after Federation. Nepean was recreated in 1927 and abolished again in...

, serving until 1895 and then again from 1898 to 1901. Lees died in 1916 at Potts Point

Potts Point, New South Wales

Potts Point is a small, densely-populated suburb of inner-city Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Potts Point is located 3 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney....

.