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In 1881 a 28-acre site on Holly Lane, Banstead, was offered for sale for use either as a housing estate or for a mansion with extensive grounds.  The land was bought by Francis Baring, a merchant banker.  In 1884 he built a large country mansion - Banstead Wood House - in the middle of Banstead Woods.

A local businessman, C.H. Garton, bought the estate in 1893 and lived there until his death in 1934.  The house was gifted to a hospital trust.

The foundation stone for the new Princess Elizabeth of York Hospital for Children was laid by Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) in 1934.

Banstead Wood House, which had been designed by the architect Norman Shaw (1831-1912) (who also designed New Scotland Yard), suffered extensive fire damage in 1936 and was almost entirely destroyed.  It was subsequently rebuilt to a design by H.S. Goodhart-Rendel (1887-1959).  The original mansion was extended and further buildings were added to the site.

A second ward block and another Nurses' Home were to be added, but the outbreak of WW2 in 1939 interrupted the work and they were never built.  Instead, Banstead Wood House and its grounds became an Emergency Military Hospital for the duration of the war.  The remainder of the woods were requisitoned by the War Department, first for use as a military camp and then later as a Prisoner-of-War camp.  (After the war the woods became invested in the Local Authority as an Open Space for th public.)

In 1941 the Hospital (with 240 beds) was taken over for use as an annexe to the Neurological Centre at Sutton Emergency Hospital.

By the end of the war in 1945 the Hospital had admitted 8,706 patients, of whom 6,740 were discharged from service, 763 returned to duty and 782 transferred to other hospitals.  Some 36 patients had absconded and 44 had died.

The Banstead Wood hospital finally opened in 1946 as the country branch of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children in London.  It was believed that the healthy rural environment would be beneficial to deprived children from inner London.  

The Hospital was officially opened in July 1948 by Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II).  It joined the NHS under the control of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Management Committee, part of the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.

In 1962 the Hospital had 80 beds.

In 1973 it became a satellite of the Manor Hospital in Epsom and was used as a hospital for mentally handicapped patients.

Following a major reorganisation of the NHS in 1974, it came under the administration of the Mid Surrey Area Health Authority, part of the South West Thames Regional Health Authority.

In1982, after another reorganisation of the NHS, the Hospital was administered by the Mid Surrey District Health Authority.

By 1990 it had 153 beds.

It closed in 1998.