| Catherine Mommand | |
| Birth Name: | Anne Catherine Tredick Wendell |
| Birth Date: | 25 November 1900 |
| Death Date: | 1977 (aged 76 or 77) |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | Henry Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon Lady Penelope van der Woude |
| Parents: | Marian Fendall Jacob Wendell III |
| Relations: | George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon (grandson) Barrett Wendell (uncle) Philippa Stewart, Countess of Galloway (sister) |
Anne Catherine Tredick Mommand (Wendell, previously known as the Countess of Carnarvon and Mrs Geoffrey Grenfell; November 25, 1900 – 1977) was an American heiress who married into the British aristocracy.
Catherine was born on November 25, 1900. She was the eldest daughter of Marian (Fendall) Wendell (d. 1949)[1] and Jacob Wendell III (d. 1911), of New York and Sandridgebury, Sandridge, Hertfordshire.[2] Her younger sister, Philippa Fendall Wendell, was the wife of Randolph Stewart, 12th Earl of Galloway.[3] Her brothers were Jacob Wendell (who married Eileen V. Carr) 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.[4] [5] Her maternal grandfather was Union soldier, Philip Richard Fendall III, and her great-grandparents were Elizabeth Mary (Young) Fendall and Philip Richard Fendall II, the District Attorney of the District of Columbia. Her paternal grandfather was Jacob Wendell of Jacob Wendell Co.[6]
On 17 July 1922, Catherine was married to Lord Porchester at St Margaret's, Westminster.[7] 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.[8] Before their divorce in 1936,[9] they were the parents of two children:[10]
After their divorce, Lady Carnarvon married, as his second wife, Lt.-Cdr. Geoffrey Seymour Grenfell (1898–1940) in 1938.[14] Geoffrey was a son of Riversdale Francis John Grenfell (son of Charles Seymour Grenfell) and Cecil Blanche (Lubbock) Grenfell.[15] Grenfell died in action during World War II just two years after their marriage.[16] [17]
Ten years after his death, she married Don Stuart Momand (d. 1977) in 1950,[18] who had previously been married to Virginia Ten Eyck Rice (a daughter of William Lowe Rice).[19]
Catherine Mommand died in 1977.[18]
Through her son Henry, she was a grandmother of George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon, Henry "Harry" Herbert, and Lady Carolyn Herbert.[18]
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.[18]