The hospital opened in 1915 by requisitioning the essentially 15th century Mount Felix estate, a grand house with gardens, and closed in 1920.

[1][2][3][4] It was the first hospital in the United Kingdom used specifically for soldiers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

[3][5] The hospital was memorialised by the Mount Felix Tapestry which toured New Zealand in 2018 and the next year.

[9][10] The first matron of the hospital was Mabel Thurston who later became matron-in-chief of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service.

The unit was re-raised in World War II and served with the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Egypt, the Western Desert, Tunisia, and Italy.