Johnian's name restored to Canadian maps

A long-standing mistake over the correct naming of a point on the Canadian coastline has finally been resolved, with the help of St John's College.

The headland near Herschel Island, known as 'Calton Point' on some maps and 'Catton Point' on others has caused confusion since 1828. 'Calton' was the name adopted by the Canadian government in 1962 but recent research has revealed it to be a misprint which is to be changed in national records.

Dr Chris Burn, of Carleton University in Ottawa, researched the history of the name with the help of records from the College's special collections and managed to trace the origins of the dispute to the explorer John Franklin. Franklin explored and mapped the Canadian Yukon coastline in the 19th century and named features of the landscape after prominent members of the Royal Society. In his personal writings, Franklin refers to 'Catton Point', although on E.N. Kendall's map that accompanied Franklin's published work, the point is called 'Calton'. Confusion has reigned ever since.

The name has now been traced to one Reverend Thomas Catton, Fellow of the Royal Society and President of St John's College from 1819-1822. Dr Burn's research, published in the journal Arctic, asserts that Franklin named the landmark after Thomas Catton. The name was misprinted on Kendall's map and left unchanged due to the expense of engraving and re-printing.

Dr Burn is now calling on the Canadian government to officially change the name: "The misprint of Catton's name on the map that accompanied Franklin's Narrative has been propagated into current toponymy and should be corrected in the national records."