Adopted 23 February 1918 by the Geographic Board of Canada, as labelled on BC-Alberta boundary sheet #7, surveyed in 1916, published in 1917.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

Named in 1916 by interprovincial boundary surveyors, after Boy Seaman John Travers Cornwell, VC, the boy hero of the Battle of Jutland. "Jack" Cornwell enlisted with the Royal Navy in 1915 without his father's permission, and was serving as a sight-setter aboard HMS Chester when she came under fire from four German cruisers, 31 May 1916; all gun crew on deck were mortally wounded or killed except Cornwell, and although hit in the chest by shrapnel he remained at his post until HMS Chester had retreated to safety. Cornwell died of his wounds 2 June 1916, age 16.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

Cornwell was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously, as follows: " The King has been graciously pleased to approve the grant of the Victoria Cross to Boy, First Class, John Travers Cornwell, O.N.J.42563 (died 2 June 1916), for the conspicuous act of bravery. 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." (Cornwell's Citation for the Victoria Cross, published in The London Gazette, 15 September 1916)

Source: included with note