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
Westminster St James Westminster St James Westminster St James (or St James Piccadilly) was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. The creation of the parish followed the building of the Church of St James, Piccadilly in 1684. After several failed attempts, the parish was formed in 1685 from part of the ancient parish of St Martin in the Fields in the Liberty of Westminster and county of Middlesex. It included part of the West End of London, taking in sections of Soho, Mayfair and St James's. Civil parish administration was in the hands of a select vestry until the