This sheet carries three dates, and all of them are correct: 1898 in the title, 1905 and 1909 in the fine print along the bottom edge. They are not mistakes but three layers of the same map.
What the title says: 1898, the year the New Territories were leased
The full title reads Map of Hong Kong, and of the territory leased to Great Britain under the Convention between Great Britain and China signed at Peking on the 9th of June 1898. Under that convention (in Chinese official usage《展拓香港界址專條》, the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory) the New Territories, together with New Kowloon north of Boundary Street, were leased to Britain for 99 years (Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Land Tenure System in Hong Kong). The area shown is therefore larger than any earlier map of Hong Kong: from Hong Kong Island all the way to the Shenzhen River.
The line along the bottom: War Office, Aug.1905; Additions, Dec.1909
At the foot of the sheet a very small line of type reads: "Additions, Dec.1909. War Office. Aug.1905." That is how the British War Office dated its sheets: the base map was finalised in August 1905, and later revisions were added on top, the last of them in December 1909. That is why some library catalogues file this sheet under 1909.
The sheet also carries its scale: 1 inch to 1 mile, with a note that the survey of Kowloon and part of the New Territory was carried out at 8 inches to 1 mile, a good deal more detailed. A further note explains that the spot heights are given in feet.
Why the same sheet is catalogued as 1899, 1905 or 1909
Because "the date" depends on which date you mean: the year of the convention (1898), the year the base map was printed (1905), or the year of the last additions (1909). Old map catalogues use all three, depending on how a library treats editions. The practical rule when you meet a War Office sheet is to turn to the margin and find both the imprint and the Additions line, rather than trusting the title alone. The margin also names the department, the scale and the edition, which together are the clearest evidence of which version you are holding. The same practice appears on other War Office sheets of the region, so the trick travels: read the foot of the map before you trust the year in the title.
What can be read on the sheet
The names are printed in the romanisation of the day. Across Kowloon the sheet carries Kowloon Peak, Diamond Hill, Beacon Hill, Eagle's Nest, Piper's Hill and Middle Hill. On the eastern side of Hong Kong Island are East Point, Quarry Bay and Tai Koo Dock. On the water are Tsim Sha Tsui, Kellett's Island, Pak Sha Wan and Lei Yue Mun. Further east lie Sleeper's Knoll and the Ninepin Group. Each of those names has a Chinese equivalent in use today, but the spelling here is the one printed at the time.
Following the same district over time
To follow one district from 1898 to the present day, the Lands Department's aerial photographs, from 1924 onwards, can be searched and viewed free through Hong Kong Map Service 2.0, and the Government Records Service holds maps, plans and photographs from the nineteenth century onward in its online holdings.
Related maps
This sheet comes in three sizes, A4 to 50x70 cm, with an optional wooden frame, and shipping to Hong Kong and overseas. If you want the coastline before and after the lease, these three sit either side of it:
- 1909 map of the whole of Hong Kong on canvas (War Office, additions 1909)
- 1890 map of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, before the lease
- 1889 Victoria City map on canvas, the year the Praya reclamation began
- 1888 Hong Kong Island map on canvas, the year the Peak Tram opened
Sources
This article draws on the following public sources, together with our own reading of the sheet in our collection (title, margin imprint, scale and place names). Copyright in the sources remains with their authors and institutions. The map images shown are digitally restored versions of the sheet in our own collection, not raw scans.
- Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Land Tenure System in Hong Kong (in Chinese), legco.gov.hk (accessed 8 October 2026)
- Lands Department, aerial photographs from 1924, landsd.gov.hk (accessed 8 October 2026)
- Government Records Service, online holdings, grs.gov.hk (accessed 8 October 2026)