[1] In 1662, Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans, was granted land for residential development on what was then the outskirts of London.

Specialist contractors, Rattee and Kett, of Cambridge, under the supervision of Messrs. W. F. Heslop and F. Brigmore, undertook restoration work, which was completed in 1954.

[4] The restored interior, with its pews and light fittings, represents a rare survival of a full suite of church furnishing by Richardson.

[5] Like many central London churches surrounded by commercial buildings and ever fewer local people, St James's lost numbers and momentum in the 1960s and 1970s.

"[6] During that decade and most of the 1990s numbers and activity grew, the clergy and congregation gaining a reputation for being a progressive, liberal and campaigning church.

[14] Concerts have included performances by popular contemporary musicians such as John Grant,[15] Tokio Myers,[16] Victoria Canal, R.E.M.,[17] the folk musician Laura Marling as part of her "church tour",[18] the collegiate Indian-American music group Penn Masala[19] and Devin Townsend on his 2015 UK acoustic tour.

[20] Hauser & Wirth, a contemporary art gallery, ran a programme of outdoor sculpture exhibitions in Southwood Garden in the grounds of the church in 2009–2010.

[21] From 23 December 2013 to 5 January 2014 the "Bethlehem Unwrapped" demonstration against the Israeli West Bank barrier featured an art installation by Justin Butcher, Geof Thompson, and Dean Willars, which included a large replica section of the wall.

Following a short-term residency based in the bell tower at St James's, Turner Prize nominated artist Jesse Darling's Miserere (a substantial new work in the form of a choir or congregation) was installed in the church 12-16 October 2022.

[38] With the railway-related expansion around Euston Station, the Chapel was given a parish of its own in 1871,[39] but the cemetery fell into disrepair and became St James's Gardens in 1878 with only a few gravestones lining the edges of the park.

[46] The Church hosted an exhibition, Stories of St James's Burial Ground, with Museum of London Archaeology in spring 2023.