Katherine Wilmot (1773–1824)

Catherine (or Katherine) Wilmot was born in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, to an Irish father and an English mother. She and her younger sister Martha grew up in County Cork, where their father worked as a port surveyor. In 1802, when she was in her late 20s, she was invited to accompany Lord Mount Cashell and his wife, the former Margaret King, on a tour of Europe. She recorded the trip in letters and diaries. Lord and Lady Mount Cashell entertained lavishly, especially during their nine months in Paris. Through this couple, she met the Emperor Napoleon, made friends with Angelica Kauffman, and had an audience with Pope Pius VII. She went on to Russia in 1805 to visit Martha, who was living there with Princess Yekaterina Dashkova, director of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and Sciences, a family friend. She spent two years in Russia before settling in France, where she died in 1824. Some of her correspondence was published in 1812; her diaries were published in 1920.