Adopted 3 April 1928 on Ottawa file OBF 1018 (file M.1.27); re-approved 6 April 1950 on 92 NW.

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

Elevation 13,177 feet (4016m). Third highest mountain in British Columbia [Fairweather Mountain and Mount Quincy Adams are higher, but both straddle the BC-Alaska boundary, hence Mount Waddington is the highest mountain ENTIRELY within the province.] First ascent credited to Fritz H. Weissner of New York, and William P. House of Pittsburgh, 21 July 1936 (Canadian Alpine Journal 1936, p.9.)

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

This was the feature that R.P. Bishop, BCLS, unsuccessfully proposed in June 1923 be named "Mount Cradock"; Bishop had viewed this massif in 1922 from his triangulation station 50+ miles distant on the southwest side of Chilko Lake, which summit he named "Mount Good Hope" [both names referring to Rear-Admiral Cradock, flagship HMS Good Hope, who went down with his ship at the naval battle of Coronel, off the coast of Chile, in World War I.] (34275S, file P.1.24; February 2943, file C.1.65). Mountaineers Don and Phyllis Munday made annual attempts to gain the summit beginning in 1926, and encapsulated their adventures in "The Unknown Mountain" published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1948; reprinted by Snohomish Publishing, Seattle, 1975.

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

Don and Phyllis Munday, the first to climb on this great mountain, called it "Mystery Mountain". The authorities decided, however, to name it after Alfred Waddington, an Englishman who arrived in Victoria in 1858, who was a notable champion of unsuccessful causes.

Source: Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; British Columbia Place Names; Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997

Alfred Pendrell Waddington (1801-72) was born in London, England, son of merchant banker, and educated in France and Germany. After several business failures he immigrated to California in 1850 for the gold rush and ended up co-owning a successful San Francisco wholesale grocery firm. Waddington came to BC in 1858, opened a branch office in Victoria and became involved in politics. That November he wrote The Fraser Mines Vindicated, believed to be the first book published in BC. He was elected to Vancouver Island's legislative assembly in 1860-61 but resigned to pursue a bold transportation venture: a road from the head of Bute Inlet that Waddington believed would expedite the arduous journey to the Cariboo goldfields. Governor James Douglas granted him right to charge tolls for 10 years, and a work party was sent to cut a route along the Homathko River. In April 1864, 14 members of his crew were killed by Tsilhqot'in First Nation warriors opposed to this incursion into their territory. This was the beginning of the so-called Chilcotin War, during which the attackers were tracked down and captured. Five were eventually tried and executed. The road project had to be abandoned, and Waddington, in financial distress, became Vancouver Island's first superintendent of smallpox, he vigorously promoted a transcontinental railroad scheme through Edmonton and Yellowhead Pass to a port at the head of Bute Inlet. Waddington Channel and Waddington Harbour were named by Captain George Richards of Her Majesty's Ship Hecate in 1862. A number of other BC geographical features also commemorate him, including Waddington Canyon, Waddington Glacier, Waddington Peak, the Waddington Range and Mount Waddington - at 4,016 m the third-highest mountain in BC (but the highest entirely within provincial boundaries) and the highest peak in the Coast Range. Pendrell Sound (qv) may possibly be named for him as well.

Source: Scott, Andrew; "The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names"; Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, 2009, pp. 627.