Samuel was the son of William Henry and Annie Ulyatt (née Smith).
His father William Henry was born in 1873 at Southwell, the son of William and Rebecca Ulyatt. In 1891 William Henry was a farm servant working for George Green, farmer, at Stoney Houghton, Upper Langwith. His mother Annie Smith was born at Normaton on Trent, Nottinghamshire, in 1872 (source 1939 England & Wales Register).
William and Annie were married at Southwell St Mary the Virgin (Minster) on 4 October 1894. By 1911 they had had nine children of whom only five had survived infancy. Six children were named on the census between 1901 and 1911: Robert and Samuel (b. 19 January 1898) who were born in Little Carlton Nottinghamshire, Richard b. Bathley Nottinghamshire 1900 d. 1901, and Rebecca, William and May who were born in Selston Nottinghamshire. Another daughter, Alice, was born in 1917.
In 1901 William Henry, a coal miner hewer, was living with his married younger brother, James, also a coal miner hewer, in Inkerman, Selston. His wife Annie was recorded living at Hill Farm, Bathley, with their three children, Robert, Samuel and Richard who died later that year.
By 1911 William and Annie and their five surviving children were living at Handstubbin, Selston. William was still employed as a coal miner hewer and his sons Robert and Samuel were both colliery horsekeepers (below ground).
The family had returned to Normanton by the time Samuel attested in 1915. Annie completed a form for the army in November 1919 naming her son Samuel's surviving blood relatives: parents William and Annie, brothers Robert (24), William (12), Harry (8) and sisters Rebecca (14), Mary (9) and Alice (2) all of Normanton, Southwell.
William, a dairy farmer, and Annie, together with their youngest child Alice, were still living in Normanton in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled. William died in 1962 and Annie in 1966.