Schwartz

Clifford Foster

Private

7323

Not Jewish

Church of England

His name is not on the Historic Obelisk in Melbourne General Cemetery. Clifford attested that he was Church of England. His cousins 666 LT John Lance Foott & 6263 PTE Hugh Schwartz Foott both attested as Roman Catholic. Father: Nichol Foote SCHWARTZ born Beechworth, Watchmaker & Jeweller married Annie Ellen PLOUGHWRIGHT born England, Dressmaker 13 August 1884 Reg No 3869 All Saints Church, Sandhurst, Victoria. Nicolas and Annie are buried together at Smythesdale Cemetery. I contacted Rosemary Angus, Secretary & Trust Member Smythesdale Cemetery Trust enquiring about the graves and her reply, “What I can say, is that a section was reserved for Jewish people when the cemetery was established in 1859, however, it is one of the unused sections of the cemetery. This would appear to support your view that his parents were not Jewish. I have checked the Smythesdale Cemetery records and all the Schwartz (sometimes spelt Schwarts) burials record their religion as Church of England and they are buried in Church of England ground which matches with the marriage of Nicolas and Annie in the All Saints, Sandhurst. Based on this it would appear that you are correct that Private Schwartz’ headstone has the wrong emblem.” Maternal Grandparents: Henry PLOUGHWRIGHT & Ruth Elizabeth WILLIS. Although there are letters from his father to the Officer in Charge on various matters, there is none about changing the religious emblem from the cross for a Church of England attestee, to a Jewish one. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) form under Religious emblem has “Jewish”, but no reason is given as to why. There was no minyan or notices in Jewish publications in Victoria. There is no evidence that he was Jewish. The CWGC was notified of the mistake. Their reply, “This case has been rejected on the basis that, at the time, relatives of Private Schwartz requested that a Star of David be inscribed upon his headstone - supported through a full register entry, the headstone schedule and the presence of a personal inscription. Therefore, this case is now closed, and no further action can be taken in this regard.” CWGC were not able to supply documents from relatives to support this claim. Rabbi’s decision: Ruled to not be Jewish. Therefore not to be on the list for future memorials.