| Birth: | Jan. 8, 1900 | | Death: | Jun. 2, 1916 | 
World War I Victoria Cross Recipient; at 16 years four months one of the youngest ever. Born in Leyton, Essex, the son of a Royal Army Medical Corps veteran, Cornwell left school at age 14 and worked as a delivery boy on a Brooke-Bond tea van. He wanted to join the Navy as soon as the war broke out, but was rejected as too young, finally finally being accepted after he had turned 15 and a half. After nine months of training Cornwell was assigned as “Boy, First Class” to his first and only ship, HMS Chester, just twenty-nine days before his first and only action at the Battle of Jutland. His duty station was as a sight-setter on one of the Chester’s uncasemated 5.5-inch guns, a job which required not only split-second timing but also required him to stand outside the gun’s shield. The Chester was severely damaged in the opening minutes of the engagement, one salvo rendering most of her guns out of action with 47 casualties out of 100 on the gun crews -- including Cornwell. Cornwell’s V.C. citation was somewhat terse: “Mortally wounded early in the action, Boy First Class John Travers Cornwell remained standing alone at a most exposed post, quietly awaiting orders, until the end of the action, with the gun's crew dead and wounded all round him. His age was under sixteen and a half years.” A letter to Cornwell’s mother from his Captain, Robert Lawson, reveals more: “His gun would not bear on the enemy: all but two of the crew of ten were killed or wounded, and he was the only one who was in such an exposed position. But he felt he might be needed, as indeed he might have been; so he stayed there, standing and waiting, under heavy fire, with just his own brave heart and God's help to support him. I cannot express to you my admiration of the son you have lost from this world. No other comfort would I attempt to give to the mother of so brave a lad but to assure her of what he was and what he did and what an example he gave.” HMS Chester survived the battle, and Cornwell was one of the seriously wounded sent to hospital at Grimsby in Lincolnshire, but he died there of his wounds two days after the battle. After Cornwell’s death, the “Boy Hero of Jutland” became a cause célèbre, due mainly to the fact that he was the only rating mentioned in Admiral David Beatty’s report. Initially Cornwell’s grave in Grimsby Cemetery was unmarked, but after the public uproar that ensued when this was revealed, he received a State funeral in Manor Park. His picture was on postcards, stamps, portraits hung in schools, even a stained-glass window in a chapel in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Noted artist Sir Frank Salisbury painted a version of the action on HMS Chester using Cornwell’s brother Frank as a model. A brass plaque in his memory was unveiled at his old school by Lady Jellicoe. And the Boy Scouts initiated a special badge in his honor “to be awarded to Scouts of high character who have shown devotion to duty, courage, and endurance.” Cornwell’s V.C. medal is on extended loan from the family to the Imperial War Museum, London. (bio by: Paul F. Wilson)
Cause of death: Intestinal perforation due to wounds received in action
Search Amazon for John Cornwell | | | Burial:
Manor Park Cemetery and Crematorium
Forest Gate
Greater London, England
Plot: Section 55 West, Grave 13 |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Jan 30, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 20027 |
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