Several good points, Guest. I'm quite prepared to believe that Bert's 'St. James's Hospital' was partly his own invention.

I can't see any UK versions (oral or broadside) that mention, St. James's either, but there are two versions from Nova Scotia and one from Co. Clare (collected by our own Jim Carroll) which do specify it, so it wasn't unknown outside of the Appalachians and New Orleans.

"The specific mention of St James is a persuasive part of the argument that St James Infirmary derives from a British song."

So are the details of the funeral and pall-bearers.