Welcome to the homepage of the Scottish Postal History Society!

The Early Edinburgh Bishop Mark The Perth Lamb The Greenock Fleuron & The Fort William Thistle Early Circular Town Namestamps

The Society was founded in 1978 for the study of Scottish Postal History in all its aspects, from the earliest times to the present day. Our aim is to help everyone, whether an internationally renowned postal historian, a dealer, or a relative beginner, to enjoy and better understand the rich diversity of Scotland's postal services past and present. To that end we are an active society with a range of interests both social and philatelic, and with a world-wide membership. Members actively promote the hobby through local and national organisations, by providing displays to interested societies, or by publishing the results of their research. Members join for many reasons, often simply to keep in touch with events and the latest information through the award winning journal The Scottish Post. Whatever your interests or level of expertise, you will find a warm welcome in the Society.

About Us

The Society has approximately 200 Members worldwide and regular contact with all Members is maintained through the quarterly Journal, The Scottish Post. In addition, regular meetings are held throughout the year. These include Winter (February) and Autumn (October) meetings at Dunblane, where invited speakers give presentations. These meetings also include the opportunity for Members to give a short display (10-20 sheets) of some of their collecting interests. An Annual Conference and AGM Weekend is held in the early Spring, usually towards the end of March. The venue for the annual conference has been in Perth, Ayr and Crieff in recent years. It will be held in Dundee in 2010. Delegates usually gather on the Friday evening for an informal dinner. Saturday brings two Plenary Sessions from invited speakers, intermingled with Members displays, and a dealers and Members Bourse. The Conference Dinner is held on the Saturday evening, which is followed by social gathering. Sunday morning is the time for the Conference Auction followed by the AGM. The Afternoon session is devoted to a competition for The Jimmy Gall Trophy, a further session of Members displays, then it's the high or low roads home!

Applications for membership are welcomed. Subscriptions are currently 10 GB pounds sterling per year for residents of the United Kingdom & Europe and 12 GB pounds sterling for all other applicants. This includes 4 issues of the Scottish Post, by airmail for worldwide members and access to all auctions. Arrangements can be made to pay through Paypal for European and worldwide members but an additional charge would be made to cover fees incurred.

As a Society we do not undertake valuations of stamp collections.

Latest News

The Society's Publications Committee has embarked on a mission to publish books on Scottish Postal History. The first 2 monographs have been published with the 3rd due soon. Enquires welcome from non-members.

No 1 - Wilson's of Bannockburn by Roy Erskine.

No. 2 - Manuscript Town markings on Early Scottish Mail by Rex Clark.

N0. 3 - Glasgow Penny Post by Bill Cochrane. Due soon.

We now have a new hosting package. This means we can offer all SPHS members their own email address @sphs.org.uk. If you want one of these highly desirable email accounts please contact the webmaster ( webmaster@sphs.org.uk ) with your preferred email address. Your account will usually be setup within 24 hours.

There is now a link to access your SPHS email account on the home page menu.

Thanks to Lyn Robinson we now have an index to articles published in the journal "The Scottish Post". This is available to download or view on the "Society Journal" page of this website.

Meetings and Forthcoming Events

Non-members are welcome to attend Society meetings but please email in advance as we need to confirm numbers for catering.

SPHS Annual General Meeting and Conference Weekend 23^rd - 25^th March 2012. The Queen's Hotel, Dundee. Another successful meeting with many members staying at the hotel and all the displays being well received, plus many smaller displays by member. We had another successful live action on the Sunday morning handled once again by Ian Evans in the absence of our auctioneer Don Hilditch. The Jimmy Gall Trophy was awarded to Keith Robinson.

Perth 2012 UK National Exhibition 19^th-20^th October 2012 Dewars Centre, Perth. Click here for details.

Perth 2012 UK Philatelic Congress of Great Britain 20^th-22^nd October 2012 The Queen's Hotel, Perth. Click here for details.

ASPS Congress 19^th - 20^th April 2013 Dewars Centre, Perth. As a member of the SPHS you can submit an entry to the National Exhibition (Competition).