As part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund supported Eastern Cloisters Project, a team of volunteers have undertaken a large amount of research to better understand the lives of the Vicars Choral who lived within the Cloister. Whilst this research has uncovered a huge amount of information about life within the Cloisters and the families who lived within this community, it has also thrown up some questions we haven’t been able to answer.

One question has bothered our Project Activity Officer Sarah more than any other though; what happened to the disappearing Lay Clerk? In the winter of 1885, Robert Andrews asked the Dean for permission to take a few days leave, and was never seen again...

Many hours have been spent poring over the evidence we have gathered, but still we haven’t been able to solve this mystery so we have compiled everything together to share with you to see if anyone else can help us. Perhaps you are working on your own research project or maybe have uncovered something within your family tree research that could shed some light? We would love to hear your theories so please feel free to share them with our archivist Elizabeth Semper O'Keefe.  [email protected]. 

The ‘case file’ is available to download below as pdf, if you would find it easier to read a plain text version, this is also available below as a Word Document.

Download the case file here as a pdf (5MB)

Download the case file as a Word Doc (text only)

The Eastern Cloisters Project has been supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund with additional support from The H B Allen Charitable Trust, The Jordan Foundation, Allchurches Trust, The Tanner Trust, a Private Donor and Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust.