The Philatelic Society of India was formed in 1897 by a group of, mainly, expatriate Englishmen resident in the country as the first all-India philatelic society. During its first fifty years the society included most of the important Anglo-Indian philatelists and had a particularly strong publications record with two award-winning books. The society meets every first and third Saturday at the Mumbai G.P.O., convened by Sri Dhirubhai Mehta, President, and Mrs D.M. Pittie, Hon. Secretary.
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History
The idea of an all-India philatelic society arose at the Philatelic Society of Bengal in 1896 and an open letter was published by Charles Stewart-Wilson in Calcutta calling for expressions of interest. The first meeting took place at 6 Middleton Row, Calcutta on 6 March 1897 where Charles Stewart-Wilson was appointed the first President and Lady Collen, Professor O.V. Muller and Major C.H.I. Hopkins were each appointed Vice-Presidents. The first Treasurer was Wilmot Corfield and the Secretary Mr. P. Aylwyn Selfe of the Bank of Bengal.
Most of the original members were Englishmen. Mr. C.K. Dutt, of Calcutta, the first Indian, was admitted in 1907.
In March 1957 an exhibition was held in Bombay to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of the society and in 1997 the Society celebrated its centenary with a display in Bombay titled Centipex '97 at which a red Scinde Dawk and other rarities of Indian philately were exhibited. India Post also issued two commemorative stamps to mark the centenary.
Early members
This is a partial list of early members of the society:
Publications
The society had a strong publishing record with Martin and Smythies' The Four Annas Lithographed Stamps of India, 1854-55 and L.E. Dawson's The One Anna & Two Annas Postage Stamps of India, 1854-55 both winning the Crawford Medal from the Royal Philatelic Society London (1932 and 1950 respectively). The first seven books produced by the society each received volume numbers, although they did not form part of any coherent work. The society's journal, the Philatelic Journal of India, was published from 1897.