[4] The hospital has its origins in the Leeds Moral and Industrial Training School built in 1848 (which now forms part of the Lincoln Wing).

[1] Subsequent early developments included the Leeds Union Workhouse (which now houses the Thackray Museum of Medicine) built in 1858.

[9] It was designed by Anshen & Allen[10] and built by Bovis Lend Lease[9] at a cost of £265 million and accepted its first patients in December 2007.

[15] In 2002, serial killer nurse Colin Norris, who worked on the orthopaedics ward of the hospital, killed two of his own patients in cold blood.

[16] He had been transferred to St James's from Leeds General Infirmary, where it later materialised he had already murdered two patients and attempted to kill another.

[18] On 20 January 2023, a student nurse by the name of Mohammad Farooq, aged 27, was arrested after leaving an explosive device outside the maternity ward of the hospital.

[21] The University of Leeds has a large presence at the St James's Hospital site with a new molecular medicine centre, the Wellcome Trust Brenner building.

[23] The Thackray Medical Museum adjoins the hospital site and is located in the Grade II listed former main building of the Leeds Union Workhouse.