"My Boy Jack" is a 1916 poem by Rudyard Kipling.[1] Kipling wrote it for Jack Cornwell, the 16-year-old youngest recipient of the Victoria Cross, who stayed by his post on board the light cruiser HMS Chester at the Battle of Jutland until he died. Kipling's son John was never referred to as "Jack". The poem echoes the grief of all parents who lost sons in the First World War. John Kipling was a 2nd Lt in the Irish Guards and disappeared in September 1915 during the Battle of Loos in the First World War. The poem was published as a prelude to a story in his book Sea Warfare written about the Battle of Jutland in 1916.[2] The imagery and theme is maritime in nature and as such it is about a generic nautical Jack (or Jack Tar), though emotionally affected by the death of Kipling's son.
My Boy Jack is the name of a 1997 play written by English actor David Haig. It examines how grief affected Rudyard Kipling and his family following the death of his son, John (known as Jack; although see the main Wikipedia entry on Rudyard Kipling), at the Battle of Loos in 1915. It includes a recitation of the poem, My Boy Jack.[3] Ben Silverstone first played Jack Kipling on stage, while Daniel Radcliffe took over the role for the ITV screen adaptation of the same name. Haig played Rudyard Kipling on both stage and screen.
Concurrent with the play, 'My Boy Jack?', the first biography of John Kipling, written by Tonie and Valmai Holt, was published in 1998 by Pen and Sword Books. The book was inspired by the dispute over the supposed identification of John Kipling's body. Hence the question mark in the book's title.