August Ferdinand Carl Schwartz DD (1817–1870) was a Hebrew Christian clergyman and minister of the Free Church of Scotland serving in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Life

He was born on 20 January 1817 in Meseritz in

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, now

Międzyrzec Podlaski Międzyrzec Podlaski () is a town in Biała Podlaska County, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland, with a population of 17,102 inhabitants . The total area of the town is . Międzyrzec is located in the historic region of Podlachia, near the Krzna river, n ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, the son of Isaac Levin Schwartz and Bertha Wollstein. He studied at the universities of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and Halle. Carl Schwartz converted to Christianity while at university in Prussia. He appears to have moved to

in the 1840s and was representative of the London Jews' Society in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

in 1842. While there he met Rev Robert Walter Stewart of the Leghorn mission. The Society abandoned their mission there in 1843 and by some mechanism he transferred to the mission linked to the newly created Free Church of Scotland (possibly the latter took over his existing mission building). In 1844 he took on the role of Free Church of Scotland missionary to the Jews in

, staying in this position until 1849. He then served a similar role for the Free Church of Scotland in

from 1849 to 1864.Ewing, William ''Annals of the Free Church'' From 1864 Schwartz was minister of Trinity Chapel, in Newnham Street (earlier John Street) off the Edgware Road in

. There he succeeded the previous minister, Ridley Herschell, himself also a Polish-born Jew who had been converted to evangelical Christianity. Schwartz in 1865 sent letters to many Christians of Jewish origin known to him, calling for a united Hebrew Christian congregation. In 1867 he became minister of Harrow Road Presbyterian Church, also continuing on his work of converting Jews, now in London. He died on 24 August 1870 in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

in London.

Family

Schwartz married twice; first, in 1843, Maria Dorothea Saphir of Budapest, the sister of Adolph Saphir, another Jewish-convert Protestant minister. She died in 1850; he then, in 1851, married Cornelia van Vollenhoven of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. Among his children was Jozua Marius Willem Schwartz (known under his pen-name as novelist

Maarten Maartens Maarten Maartens, pen name of ''Jozua Marius Willem van der Poorten Schwartz'' (15 August 1858 in Amsterdam – 3 August 1915 in Doorn), was a Dutch writer, who wrote in English. He was quite well known at the end of the nineteenth and the be ...

Publications

* ''The Scattered Nation'' in 3 volumes
Vol. 1Vol. 2Vol. 3

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Carl 1817 births 1870 deaths Hebrew Christian movement