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building of No. 13, Cockspur Street, formerly No. 125 Pall,
Mall, then Northward for a length of 58ft. to a point Eastward
of the centre of West party-wall 19ft., and then turns in a
North-westerly direction to a point on the North front of the
said house 9ft. 6in. Eastward of the centre of the Western
party-wall, being the point from whence the description of the
Boundary line commenced, and thereby including the former
site of No. 125, Pall Mall, formerly the house on the South side
at the East end of Pall Mall as described in the said Act of
James II.
At this distance of time, perhaps, it is impossible to say
with certainty why the parish was named "St. James's." The
Parish Church was built and consecrated in the reign of
Charles II. (1684), and was probably then dedicated to St.
James, although, until the creation of the parish in the following
year, it was but a Chapel-of-Ease to St. Martin's. The
patron saint may have been chosen out of compliment to the
Duke of York, the heir apparent to the Throne, who succeeded
his brother between the date of the consecration of the church
and the creation of the parish, but as this prince was by no
means popular, perhaps it may be more fairly conjectured that
the parish derived its title from being situate at the Court end
of the town, the Court itself being known by the name of St.
James from the Royal Palace, once the principal Metropolitan
residence of the Sovereign. But, it may be asked, why did the
Court or the Palace receive the name? The reply seems to
be that the Palace occupies the site of a hospital dedicated to
St. James, and founded for fourteen sisters, "maidens that
were leprous." It may be remarked, in passing, that Gilbert
White, in his ''Natural History of Selborne," ascribes the
disappearance of leprosy from the list of diseases in England
to the more general cultivation of kitchen gardens, and consequent
freer use of vegetables, dating from the fifteenth or
sixteenth century. The hospital and curtilages were made a