Name:  Catrin Isadora Bancroft (née Price)

Nickname/Title:  Lady Catrin Bancroft, Countess of Ashbourne

Age: 32

Birthplace:  Cardiff, Wales

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Play-By: Dominique McElligott

Occupation:  None / Entitled

Physical Description:
Though she would never be considered classically beautiful, Catrin is a handsome woman in her early thirties.  Her height (5'6") and weight (130lbs) are both average, and she is lean and slender, but carries with her a wiry strength of someone accustomed to physical labor.  Her most striking features are her deep hazel eyes and waist-length hair, the color of sun-ripened wheat, which is usually coiffed and curled in common fashion.  Though a woman of means, her wardrobe is usually simple and modest.

Distinguishing Features:
None

Personality Description:
Catrin has a way about her that puts others at ease.  She is equally as comfortable in conversation with servants as she is with the nobility, and has a generally cheery attitude that most find appealing.  She makes friends easily and was born with a compassionate spirit that drives her to lend assistance to those in need.  She also possesses a willingness to do whatever work is necessary to achieve her goals, and does not shy from physical labor if it is required.

Character's History:
Catrin was born in Cardiff, Wales to Afan and Meredith Price.  She had the misfortune of being eldest of five, the only daughter, with four younger brothers to tend.  Her life in Cardiff was not one of idle pleasures.  Her father was the agent of his uncle's coal mine, which afforded a decent living for his family, but not significant wealth.  Catrin helped her mother run their modest household in everything from cooking to cleaning to tending babies, and more besides.  Her mother assured her that such diligent work would curb her wilder habits, like reading and climbing trees, though Catrin still did both as often as possible.

At the age of sixteen, her life changed drastically.  Diphtheria swept through the town, and few families were left untouched.  Her mother and two of her brothers fell ill, along with her great uncle, his son, and several in their household.  While most recovered, her mother and her youngest brother did not.  Her great uncle and his son also perished, leaving her father as the only living heir to his estate.

With the Industrial Revolution in full swing, coal was a much needed commodity for the furnaces and factories of the larger cities.  With vast income that came with owning the mine, Catrin was no longer required to cook and clean but did find herself saddled with all manner of lessons meant to educate and refine her manners.  The high society of Cardiff was small and menial when compared to that of London, but it was society, nonetheless, and her father was determined that she should join it with distinction.

After the flurry of society introductions and balls, life eventually settled, as it usually did, and Catrin found that a life of idleness did not suit her.  The estate's housekeeper managed their home and servants without assistance, but Catrin aided her when needed.  Now in her early twenties, she began helping her father and oldest brother with the administration of the Price mines, copying contracts, balancing ledgers, and taking notes at meetings.

It was at one such meeting where she first met Lord Edmund Bancroft, Earl of Ashbourne, who owned a large estate in the country outside of London.  In need of money to support his floundering ironworks, he applied to her father for her hand in marriage.  As it pleased her father to join with an older house that held title and lands, and Catrin had no particular objection to the man himself (though he was a decade her senior), she did not protest when her father told her she was to marry.  She was twenty-three when she became Lady Catrin Bancroft.

After their marriage, Catrin took residence with her husband in London and found herself pregnant soon after.  Her son, Niall, was born in the following year.  A daughter, Meredith, arrived two years later.  Her husband's ironworks flourished with the renewed capital from her dowry and Catrin found her life fulfilled caring for her children.  She enjoyed London society immensely and entertained often.  Several hours a week were spent tending to the poor and destitute with compassionate ladies of society, and she found the work quite fulfilling.

After seven years of marriage to a man that she had grown to love, Catrin's husband began to grow ill.  Lord Bancroft suffered for nearly six months from a wasting sickness that robbed him of his health, his mind, and eventually his life.  He was forty when he died.  Catrin was thirty when she became a widow.

Her brother moved into their London home shortly after to help her agent manage the ironworks and Catrin retreated to the country with her two children to grieve in peace.  Now two years since the passing of her husband, she has returned to London society to renew old friendships and acquaintances, to see to the profitable endeavors that secure her children's future, and to return to the good works that she'd previously done with the poor and those in need.

Family:
Afan Price  (father, 56)
Meredith Price  (mother)†
Cadoc Price  (brother, 30)
Rhodri Price  (brother, 28)
Ioan Price  (brother, 27)
Bryn Price  (brother)†

Edmund Bancroft  (husband)†
Niall Bancroft  (son, 8)
Meredith Bancroft  (daughter, 6)

Estates:
Bancroft House - Located at 80 Brook Street in Mayfair, London
Briarley Park - Located in the village of Ashbourne in Yorkshire

Goals:  To use her modest wealth to aid those in need of charity.

Likes:  Social gatherings and assemblies, music, and children.

Dislikes:  Being alone, those that take advantage of the weak, and the suffering of the poor.