Catherine Mommand

Anne Catherine Tredick Mommand was an American heiress and descendant of the Lee Family of Virginia who married into the British aristocracy.

Early life

Catherine was born on November 25, 1900. She was the eldest daughter of Marian Wendell and Jacob Wendell III, of New York and Sandridgebury, Sandridge, Hertfordshire. Her maternal grandfather, Philip Richard Fendall III, was the grandson of Philip Richard Fendall I and Mary Lee, of the Lee family of Virginia. Her younger sister, Philippa Fendall Wendell, was the wife of Randolph Stewart, 12th Earl of Galloway. Her brothers were Jacob Wendell and Reginald L. Wendell.
Her father, a Harvard graduate and Broadway actor, died of pneumonia shortly before he was to appear in the leading role in What the Doctor Ordered at the Astor Theatre. Her maternal grandfather was Union soldier, Philip Richard Fendall III, and her great-grandparents were Elizabeth Mary Fendall and Philip Richard Fendall II, the District Attorney of the District of Columbia. Her paternal grandfather was Jacob Wendell of Jacob Wendell Co.

Personal life

On 17 July 1922, Catherine was married to Lord Porchester at St Margaret's, Westminster. He was the son and heir of George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon and Almina Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon and upon his father's death on 5 April 1923, Henry became the 6th Earl of Carnarvon and Catherine became Countess of Carnarvon. Before their divorce in 1936, they were the parents of two children:

Henry George Reginald Molyneux Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon, who married Jean Margaret Wallop, daughter of Hon. Oliver Malcolm Wallop, in 1956.
Lady Anne Penelope Marian Herbert, who married her second cousin, Capt. Reinier Gerrit Anton van der Woude, son of R.A.G van der Woude and Mary Wendell in 1945.

After their divorce, Lady Carnarvon married, as his second wife, Lt.-Cdr. Geoffrey Seymour Grenfell in 1938. Geoffrey was a son of Riversdale Francis John Grenfell and Cecil Blanche Grenfell. Grenfell died in action during World War II just two years after their marriage.
Ten years after his death, she married Don Stuart Momand in 1950, who had previously been married to Virginia Ten Eyck Rice.
Catherine Mommand died in 1977.

Descendants

Through her son Henry, she was a grandmother of George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon, Henry "Harry" Herbert, and Lady Carolyn Herbert.
Through her daughter Penelope, she was a grandmother of Michael Gerrit van der Woude, David Anthony van der Woude, and Penelope Catherine Mary van der Woude.