Background
He was born on August 23, 1911, Sierra Leone.
He was born on August 23, 1911, Sierra Leone.
He educated at the Methodist Boy’s School, Freetown, 1922-8, and at Fourah Bay College 1929-32, where he graduated with a BA. He went on to Durham University where he got a diploma in education, then to the Middle Temple, being called to the Bar in 1938.
He returned home to take up legal practice, becoming a police magistrate between 1949 and 1958 and acting, and then a full, puisne judge from 1958 to 1963, when he was appointed Chief Justice, finally becoming president of the Court of Appeal for Sierra Leone in October 1965.
In 1961 he had an unusual task with the United Nations Commission, which investigated the death of Dag Hammarskjöld in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia in 1961. While advancing his legal career, Sir Samuel frequently lectured part-time at Fourah Bay University. He was installed as Chancellor of the University of Sierra Leone in February 1969. In 1971 he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court by Siaka Stevens.