Saint James Rum was founded in Saint-Pierre de la Martinique in 1765, at the hands of Reverend Father Edmund Lefebure who also happened to be a rather skilled alchemist. The priest crafted a cane spirit, and began shipping the rum to British colonies in North America. He named the rum Saint Jacques as a tribute to Jacques Dyel, which later became known as Saint James in order to sound more familiar to English speakers.
In 1882 the brand was registered by Paulin Lambert, a French merchant. Its square bottle was one of the first of its kind seen in the spirits world, a convenient shape for stowing away in ships’ holds. Towards the end of the 19th century the Lambert family opened commercial branches throughout Europe. In the 1960s, the Lambert family transferred their shares to the Cointreau Group, and in 1973 all production was moved to Sainte Marie, moving the production closer to the sugarcane plantations where it remains today.