Friday, 17 June 1921 edition of the China Mail reported the following:-

“At a meeting held yesterday evening (16 June), at the offices of Messrs. W. A. Hannibal & Co., it was decided to form a Philatelic Society for the Colony limited to twenty five members, which still leaves a few vacancies. Mr. H. W. Dick was elected President, and Mr. John Robertson Hon. secretary. Rules for the conduct of the Society were discussed and approved.”

The first President was Mr. H. W. Dick and the Hon. Secretary was Mr. John Robertson. In the early years, the Society was relatively inactive and it was not until 1934, under the energetic Presidency of Mr. H.W. Hammond that the Society began to thrive. The Society grew in size under Mr. Hammond’s successors, Messrs. René Ohl, W. Sayers, Mitchell and A.R. Osborne until the membership reached 100 before the outbreak of the Second World War according to the August 1939 edition of the Asian Stamp Journal.

Formed to promote philatelic activities in Hong Kong, the Philatelic Society once contributed a column in the Hong Kong Daily Press under the pseudonym of “WS” in the 1930s reporting on both local and foreign philatelic activities and developments. After the war, the Society recommenced publishing its newsletter from 1949 onwards. Apart from the monthly newsletter, the Society published its first Annual Journal in 1997. In 2021, the 25^th issue was published to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the Society. This issue has obtained a Large Vermeil Medal in the 2023 FIP patronage IBRA international Stamp Exhibition in Germany. The Society’s website was inaugurated in August 2000 providing a quicker means of philatelic information exchange between members.  The Society also has a Facebook account with news updated more frequently.

During the 1930s, meetings were held on the last Thursday of each month in the Board-room of the South China Morning Post Building. The venue was changed to Club Lusitano under the reign of Chris D’Almada in the 1970s. Following the closure of the Club Lusitano and election of President Mr. William Kwan, members met at World Wide House, 186 Hennessy Road and in the conference room of Woo, Kwan, Li and Lo Solicitors at Jardine House in succession.  Nowadays, meetings are held in the meeting room of Hong Kong City Hall.  Monthly ZOOM meetings have been organized by Vice-Chairman Dr. Andrew Cheung since September 2020, in response to the knockdown of the society due to COVID-19.  This method of meeting is effective for exchanges among overseas and local members and video records of the meetings can be found in YouTube.

Locally, our Philatelic Society is active in promoting stamp collecting as a hobby as well as raising local standard of exhibiting by supporting Hongkong Post’s Inter-School Stamp Exhibits Competition. Internationally, we are one of the founder members of the Federation of Inter-Asian Philately (founded on 14 September 1974) and a member of the Federation Internationale Philatelie (F.I.P.).

We organise annual competitive stamp exhibitions to qualify new exhibits formed by local collectors for future FIAP & FIP exhibitions. The first such exhibitions, Hongpex 96 was jointly organised by the Hong Kong Philatelic Society, China Philatelic Association, Tsim Sha Tsui Philatelic Club, Police Philatelic Club and supported by Hongkong Post. In 2002, when we became the sole organizer, Hongpex was re-named Hong Kong Stampex.  Hong Kong Stampex was not held between 2019 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  It was resumed in 2013.  The Christopher D’Almada Trophy, in memory of our former President, is the Grand award for the best exhibit in the show.

We co-organised the first regional stamp exhibition in 1994, the first international stamp exhibition in February 1997 and the 15th FIAP Asian International in February 2001. In January 2004, the Society co-organised the Hong Kong 2004 Stamp Expo – 17th Asian International Philatelic Exhibition which was a big success. This was followed by Hong Kong 2009, 23rd Asian International Philatelic Exhibition in May 2009, the first exhibition organised solely by the HKPS under the patronage of FIAP and sponsorship of Hongkong Post. With the support of FIAP and Hongkong Post as our main sponsor, our Philatelic Society hosted another FIAP Asian International Stamp Exhibition from 20 to 23 November 2015.