St. James Infirmary Blues London's St. James Hospital, a religious foundation for the treatment of leprosy. His references list an article by Kenneth Lodewick. That article states, giving no reference or source for the idea, that the phrase "St. James Hospital" refers to a hospital of that name in London. There is some difficulty in this because the hospital in question closed in 1532 when Henry VIII acquired the land to build St James's Palace. Another possibility suggested by Higginbotham on the basis of his claim that the song "St. James Infirmary" dates at least from the early nineteenth century, is the Infirmary section
St James Garlickhythe the London church may have their "credencial", or pilgrim passport, stamped with the impression of a scallop shell. 'Garlickhythe' refers to the nearby landing place, or "hythe", near which garlic was sold in medieval times. The earliest surviving reference to the church is as "ecclesiam Sancti Jacobi" in a 12th-century will. Other records of the church refer to it as St James in the Vintry, St James Comyns, St James-by-the-Thames and St James super Ripam. The ships from France loaded with garlic also carried wine and St James has a long association with wine merchants. The church is located in