Mount Felix Hospital

[Wiltshire]

Can anyone advise me where I might find documents relating to the above hospital which was located at Walton on Thames, Surrey?  It opened in about December 1914 and from April 1915 it was run by the New Zealanders until the end of the war. Its full title was New Zealand General Hospital Number 2 (Mount Felix).

[seaJane]

Is it in the Hospital Records Database?

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/

[TEW]

Archway gives some hits for the the hospital at Walton on Thames. You may have to try different terms eg General Hospital and use the phrase option for the keyword search. I don't think you'll find patient records or an A&D book.

 

A quick look showed 37 results for "Walton on Thames" as individual records and 1 for Govt of NZ.

 

TEW

[Wiltshire]

Thank you both for your replies which I will follow up.

 

Regards

 

Graham

[Ally Sloper]

There is a bit about the hospital in The New Zealand  Medical Service in the Great War, which was published in 1924 and records 'No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital at Walton-on-Thames had now expanded to 1530 beds, huts had taken the place of tents, the Mt. Felix Mansion had been appropriated for wards, and a new operating theatre an X-ray room and a laboratory had been erected in the grounds'. The full text of the book can be found at,   http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz//tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Medi-t1-g1-t1-body-d16.html#n408

 

Unfortunately the admission and discharge registers do not appear to have survived but there are probably references to it in the local newspapers and I have come across the following documents to it.

 

British Library

 

The Scullery Mail.  Mar 1916, ref no. P.P.4039.wb.(11.)

 

British Red Cross Archives

 

Photographs patients and hospital, c 1917, and Menu for Christmas Dinner, 1917, ref no. 1619/14/-.

 

National Archives of New Zealand

 

General file, 1915-1930, Ref no. AD1/965

 

File re nurses, 1916, Ref no. AD1/977

 

File re supplies, 1916-1919, Ref no. WA1/1/3/9,11

 

Files re buildings, 1916-1918, re WA1/1/3/11,14-16

 

File re food and fuel, 1917-1918, Ref no. WA1/1/3/19

 

File re Sister Alice Faram, 1916-1939, ref no. W5714/9

 

File re Annie Fitzherbert, Masseuse, 1917-1918, Ref no. W5714/1

 

File re Dorothy Prest, clerk and storekeeper, 1917, Ref no. W5573/15

 

File re Sister Grace Sisley, 1916-1917, Ref no. W5714/2

 

File re Sister Muriel Taylor, 1918-1954, Ref no. W5714/9

 

File re Sterilizer, 1916 Ref no. WA1/3/3

 

File re converting X-Ray-Nose & throat Dept into a ward, 1917 Ref no. WA1/1/3/14

 

Painting of hospital, 1918, ref no. 898/130/-

 

Surrey History Centre

 

St Mary’s, Walton on Thames marriage register, includes various marriages of patients to locals and V.A.Ds,  ref no 7346/1/5

 

The Walton on Thames postcard album has some views of Mount Felix.

 

For papers and documents for Mount Felix itself,1713-1939,  see reference 930/-

 

I hope this helps.

 

Laurence

[Wiltshire]

Ally

 

Thank you for your very detailed reply which gives me a great deal of places to look.

 

Graham

[tony paley]

Interestingly I lived in Mount Felix from the age of 2yrs until 18yrs. Sadly it was left in a poor state in 1960s and was destroyed by fire in 1965.  There was a plaque at the entrance gates that I believe to be in the Weybridge Museum. The local cemetery, near St.Mary's Church has several CWG where New Zealand soldiers rest.

Tony P

[Wiltshire]

Tony

Thank you for your reply.  Do you happen to have any photographs of the building when you were living there?

 

Graham

[tony paley]

Graham,

       Sorry about the delay in replying, yes I do have some post cards of the house. Not very good with tech stuff but will attempt to get them to you.

 

Tony P

[Wiltshire]

Thanks very much Tony.  Is it possible to send a personal message so I can let you have my address?

 

Regards

 

Graham

[tony paley]

Graham,

   I have sent you a pm. Tony P

[SJHenley]

I came to find out about Mount Felix when I was researching the SS Marquette sinking and deciphering the address on the telegram one of my ancestors received at Walton-on-Thames requesting her presence at the palace to receive her Royal Red Cross award.

 

The London Gazette Second Supplement of October 24, 1917 is 10 pages of Royal Red Cross awards to nurses at a variety of hospitals, and I believe there are 8 names from Walton-on-Thames, likely other survivors of the Marquette.

 

A book that I found quite helpful is "While You're Away" by Anna Rogers. There is a chapter just on New Zealand hospitals in England, approx. 20 entries in the index for the No. 2 Hospital, and the book has a very good bibliography.