{{Short description|Australian politician (1857-1936)}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Samuel Mauger | honorific_suffix = | image = Samuel Mauger - Elliott & Fry (cropped).jpg | caption = Mauger, 1910s | office = Postmaster-General of Australia | prime_minister = Alfred Deakin | predecessor = Austin Chapman | successor = Josiah Thomas | term_start = 30 July 1907 | term_end = 13 November 1908 | constituency_MP3 = Melbourne Ports | parliament3 = Australian | predecessor3 = ''New seat'' | successor3 = James Mathews | term_start3 = 29 March 1901 | term_end3 = 12 December 1906 | constituency_MP2 = Maribyrnong | parliament2 = Australian | predecessor2 = ''New seat'' | successor2 = James Fenton | term_start2 = 12 December 1906 | term_end2 = 13 April 1910 | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1857|11|12}} | birth_place = Geelong, Victoria, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1936|6|26|1857|11|12}} | death_place = Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia | spouse = {{marriage|Hanna Rice|1880}} | party = Protectionist (1901–09) <br /> Liberal (1909–10) | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = Hat manufacturer | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Samuel Mauger''' (pronounced "major"; 12 November 1857 – 26 June 1936)<ref name=adb>{{ Australian Dictionary of Biography |first=John |last=Lack |id2=mauger-samuel-7529 |title=Mauger, Samuel (1857–1936) |year=1986 |pages=451–453 |access-date=2022-08-05}}</ref> was an Australian social reformer and politician. He served in the Victorian Legislative Assembly (1900–1901) and the Australian House of Representatives (1901–1910), including as Postmaster-General in the Deakin government (1907–1908). He championed a number of political causes, including workers' rights, protectionism and temperance.
==Early life== Mauger was born in Geelong, Victoria, son of immigrants from Guernsey, Channel Islands, Samuel Mauger Senior and Caroline ''née'' Liz<ref name=adb/> who migrated to Australia in the 1850s. Mauger junior was educated at the Geelong National School, but left school early to become an errand boy for a hat maker when his father contracted rheumatic fever.<ref name=adb/> Mauger later owned the hat manufacturing business. Mauger was a Bible class teacher at St Mark's Church of England in Fitzroy. He later became the Sunday-school superintendent at St Paul's Congregational Church in North Fitzroy. On 13 May 1880, Mauger married Hanna Rice, whom he had met at St Mark's; they eventually had four sons and four daughters.<ref name=adb/>
==Career== Mauger held various memberships to various organisations. He was a superintendent in the Fire Brigades' Association of Victoria and four times president of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board.<ref name=adb/> Mauger was one of the founders and secretary of the National Anti-Sweating League from 1895. Mauger was on the Board enquiry for unemployment in 1899 and involved in the royal commission of Victorian factories and shops law in 1900.
Being a devout Christian of the Australian Church, Mauger was president of YMCA and president of the Melbourne Total Abstinence Society.
==Victorian politics== Mauger attempted to run for politics in various State electorates before becoming a Member of Parliament. He stood for the seat of Fitzroy in 1892, South Melbourne in 1896 and Portland in 1897. In 1899 he was a firefighter in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond.<ref>{{cite web|last=Birch|first=Adrian|title=Samuel Mauger firefighter.|url=http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/69174|publisher=State Library of Victoria|access-date=25 April 2014}}</ref> In 1900, Mauger was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Footscray. He held the seat of Footscray until May 1901, where he resigned from State politics and ran for Federal politics.<ref>{{Cite re-member|num2=706|name=Samuel Mauger|access-date=2022-08-05}}</ref>
==Federal politics== thumb|left|upright|Studio portrait by Swiss Studios Mauger served as the member for Melbourne Ports from 1901 to 1906. At the 1906 federal election, Mauger contested the newly created seat of Maribyrnong and became the electorate's first Federal Member of Parliament. He was a Minister without a Portfolio from 1906 until 1907 and then Postmaster-General until 1908. Mauger lost his seat of Maribyrnong to ALP candidate James Fenton in 1910.
Mauger ran for the Senate in 1913 and 1914, but failed to get elected.<ref name=adb/><ref>[http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/candidates/m.txt Australian Federal Political Candidates (Surname beginning with letter "M")] </ref>
== Legacy == In 1934 Mauger wrote a brochure on ''The Rise and Progress of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Victoria, Australia''.<ref name=dab/> Mauger died in Elsternwick, Victoria and is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery. At his funeral, he was given a fire guard honour.<ref name=adb/> Mauger was survived by his wife, two sons and four daughters.<ref name=dab>{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Samuel|Last=Mauger|shortlink=0-dict-biogMa-Mo.html#mauger1|access-date=5 October 2009}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} * [http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1906/1906repsvic.txt Federal Election Results 1906] * [http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1910/1910repsvic.txt Federal Election Results 1910] {{s-start}} {{s-par|au-vic-la}} {{succession box | title=Member for Footscray | before= John Hancock | after=Jacob Fotheringham | years=1900–1901}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | title= Postmaster-General | before=Austin Chapman| after= Josiah Thomas| years=1907–1908 }} {{s-par|au-hr}} {{succession box | title=Member for Melbourne Ports | before=New Seat | after=James Mathews | years=1901–1906}} {{succession box | title=Member for Maribyrnong | before=New Seat | after=James Fenton | years=1906–1910}} {{s-end}} {{Second Deakin Cabinet}} {{Third Deakin Cabinet}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mauger, Samuel}} Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Melbourne Ports Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Maribyrnong Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives Category:Members of the Cabinet of Australia Category:Commonwealth Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Protectionist Party members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Australian federationists Category:Politicians from Melbourne Category:Trade unionists from Melbourne Category:Australian trade unionists Category:Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Category:Australian hatters and milliners Category:Australian people of Guernsey descent Category:1857 births Category:1936 deaths Category:YMCA leaders Category:Politicians from the Colony of Victoria Category:Postmasters-general of Australia Category:Australian MPs 1901–1903 Category:Australian MPs 1903–1906 Category:Australian MPs 1906–1910