Samuel was born in Marylebone, son of William Jonathan and Mary Ann (nee Young) Byam. He was baptised at St Marylebone church on 21st April 1848. Father William was a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons and Licentiate of the Apothecaries Company.
In 1851 Ellen, with older sisters Mary and Harriett, were Boarders at a School in Minchinhampton, near Stroud. Samuel and brother William, were in Welbeck St., Portland Place, in Marylebone, with their parents, and a Domestic Servant, plus a Nurserymaid.
(Brother William became a Major-General and had a long and distinguished Military career.)
In 1861 the family was still living in Portland Place. William and Mary, with Ellen, Samuel and sister Elizabeth Mary, plus a Cook and a Housemaid.
By 1871 William, now retired, had moved his family to Tidenham, Gloucestershire. Mary, Ellen, Samuel (Student of Medecine), Elizabeth, and two Domestic Servants were in his household. He died in 1873. Samuel qualified as a surgeon in 1877. He worked at St George's Hospital in London. By 1880, he was working at Devon and Exeter Hospital and living in Exmouth. In 1881 he was Head of Household in Westbourne Place, Knightsbridge, unmarried Medical Practioner, with a Scottish male Domestic Servant and a female Cook from Suffolk.
In 1885, in a UK Medical Directory, he is described as of 18 Westbourne Place, Eaton Square. Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, London 1877, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London 1877. (St George and Exeter Hospital) Demonstrator of Anatomy at St George's Hospital Medical School 1868 1870.
He is on the London Electoral Register for 1891, at St George, Hanover Square, London.
In 1901 he was still living in Hanover Square, with a couple of Servants, and in 1911, in a 17-roomed house, now in Chester Square, with the same couple. He never married.
Samuel was at Caer Gwent Nursing Home, in Wykeham Road, Worthing, when he died, though his address was given as 38 Chester Square. Probate was granted on 27th October 1921 to William Byam retired lieutenant colonel HM Army. Effects £807 0s 3d.