The MRCS was born in 1948. The earliest branches were set up in Sabah (then North Borneo) by the British Red Cross in 1948. The first Red Cross Branch in Peninsular Malaysia was established in Penang in 1950. By the end 1952, Branches have been formed in Perak, Terengganu, Selangor, Melaka, Johor and Pahang. When Malay gained its independence in 1957, the Society was established as the Federation of Malay Red Cross Society by an Act of Parliament. Six years later, the Society was admitted as a member of the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

When Malaysia was formed in September 1963, an Act to incorporate the Federation of Malaya Red Cross Society and the Branches of the British Red Cross Society in Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore under the name " Malaysian Red Cross-Society" was passed by Parliament vide the Malaysian Red Cross-Society (Incorporatin) Act 1965 (Act No: 47 of 1965). In 1975, Malaysian Parliament passed the Malaysian Red Cross Society (Change of Name) (Act 162) whice received royal assent on 21st August 1975 and was duly gazetted on 4th September 1975.