The Story Of Boy Sailor Jack Cornwell VC
This article by Nathan Tyler was first published in May 2016.
'Jutland Jack' joined the Royal Navy aged just 15. By 16 he was dead and one of the most famous people in Britain.
Now, a commemoration ceremony has taken place at a permanent tribute to Jack Cornwell - the youngest person to be awarded a Victoria Cross in the First World War.
100 years after his death, relatives of the 16-year-old hero of the Battle of Jutland have come together to remember him (see above).
Jack Cornwell's story started in the East End of London more than a century ago. The son of a tram driver, he joined the Boy Scouts just as the organisation started to catch on.
By 13, however, he'd already left school to make his own way in the world, becoming a delivery boy for a tea company.
With the arrival of the First World War Jack's father, an ex-soldier, left for the front with the British Army. Jack meanwhile tried to join the Royal Navy, his first attempts rebuffed as he was still too young.
In 1915 and without the permission of his parents he tried again, this time being accepted and sent to Plymouth to learn how to be a gunsight setter.
On 31st May 1916, aboard the light cruiser HMS Chester, he experienced the full horror of the Battle of Jutland.
Critically wounded, he stayed with his gun awaiting orders, his crewmates lying dead around him.
Eventually taken ashore, he died in a Grimsby hospital just before his mother, travelling up by train from London, reached his bedside.
Posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military honour, he became a national hero.
Tragically his brother was also killed in action in 1918.
Jack's father passed away in 1916 from bronchitis, while his mother died in 1919.
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