Catherine Moncrieff (born Catherine Gifford in 1960) is a supporting character in Manchester Chronicles. The matron of the Manchester Moncrieff family, Catherine is an influential socialite as well as the mother of both Elizabeth Moncrieff and Sandra Moncrieff. Catherine possesses the Cloak-Pin of Tegau, a magic item capable of freezing people.
Biography[]
  Modest BeginningsCatherine was born in Liverpool, UK, the oldest child of the Gifford family. Catherine's family owned various transport interests, ensuring financial stability. During the summers away from school Catherine and her sisters (including Elouise would happily ride horses around their family's summer estate in Italy, Catherine herself managing to soon become fluent in both Italian and also French. An accomplished student, Catherine eventually moved on to attend Oxford University, which is where she met and later married James Moncrieff. The couple would go on to have two children: Elizabeth Moncrieff and Sandra Moncrieff. Magical AwakeningHaving moved to Manchester from Oxford, Catherine secretly began funneling what money she had from her birth family to Moncrieff Holdings. Eventually, Moncrieff Holdings bought out Catherine's family's company, leaving them with little but her with it all. Catherine's true goal, however, was the Cloak-Pin of Tegau, an object her father had kept in the family vault, which she suspected might be magic. Sure enough the pin, also sometimes called a brooch, was confirmed to be able to freeze people in time, effectively turning them into statues. Catherine soon started employing the brooch to permanently freeze women for both her husband and herself, indulging in her own fetish. Lucile Jackson, her father's lawyer, would be one of Catherine's earliest victims, and over the decades she'd freeze many more, including rivals, relations of business opponents and, as the years went on, even James's own sister Meili Moncrieff. Elizabeth and Sandra would also get frozen constantly, Catherine enjoying using her brooch to discipline her daughters.
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   Rigid SupportCome 2008 Catherine was more than willing to still use the brooch to punish enemies of her family. Joanne Gallagher and Bridget O'Dwyer were personally frozen by Catherine after the destruction of the Winterborne Armband. Despite being one of the most powerful women in Manchester, Catherine never really saw herself as one for friends, instead seeing her social circle, in particular Susan Harrington of the Friends in Need organization, as rivals. Elizabeth would in particular also frustrate Catherine, rejecting her chosen boyfriend of Rodney Dalrymple and instead having dalliances with Hannah Rothstein, her assistant. Sandra meanwhile reluctantly dated Geoffrey Atherton, another James and Catherine had picked out. While attending the 2008 Friends in Need Charity Ball, Catherine ended up frozen by Type-7 when she tried to use her brooch on a member of the attacking Crown Breakers. Elizabeth used the cloak-pin to help fight the terrorists, and Catherine herself was later taken aside by Amelia DuGalle. Despite the incident, Catherine was later recovered with no harm done, save for some of her pride as her dress had been ruined. She would later learn that Elizabeth had since begun romantic entanglements with Kieran Hawthorne, whom she disapproved of, and froze her as punishment, also freezing Sandra for breaking up with Geoffrey. Eager to keep better tabs on Elizabeth, Catherine unfroze Hillary Irwin, using the brooch's latent control abilities to turn her into Agatha Keys, a new driver for Elizabeth. Despite her disappointment with her daughters Catherine was also not above punishing any who took advantage of them, adding Meade Brasher to her collection for daring to experiment with them. |
    CracksCatherine's over-controlling nature would finally start to threaten her when Elizabeth changed tactics to defy her. Being more flagrant with her freezing activities, Catherine's jealousy over Lucinda Ogletree having an affair with her husband saw her openly capture the woman. Witnessed by agents of MI-13, this was later revealed by Elizabeth after the fact. Catherine was stopped from punishing her daughter by James, who was impressed with Elizabeth's actions, though Catherine was unaware the whole event was a trap Elizabeth had arranged.
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Personal Information[]
- Current Age: 49
- Height: 5'8"
- Weight: 127 lbs
- Hair Color: Platnium Blonde
- Eye Color: Blue
- Bra Size: 34C
- Hypnosis Rating: 4
- Current Place of Residence: Manchester, UK
- Sexual Preference: Men
- Special Notes: Freeze Fetish
Relationships[]
Family[]
- James Moncrieff, Husband
- Elizabeth Moncrieff, Daughter
- Sandra Moncrieff, Daughter
- Elouise Krueger, Younger Sister
- Freya Downy, Sister-in-Law
- Ashlynne Krueger, Niece
Collection[]
- Lucile Jackson
- Brenda Gibbs
- Paula Lincoln
- Clare Winchester
- Christine Deighton
- Janet Deighton
- Agatha Keys
- Evelina Bradshaw
- Meili Moncrieff
- Regina Maplethorpe
- Bridget O'Dwyer
- Joanne Gallagher
- Meade Brasher
Appearances[]
- Manchester Chronicles: Good Help is Hard to Find
- Manchester Chronicles: The Longest Birthday
- Manchester Chronicles: My Fair Ladies
- Manchester Chronicles: Having a Ball
- Manchester Chronicles: The Albion Conspiracy
- Manchester Chronicles: Baby, It's Cold Inside
- Manchester Chronicles: The Christmas Mannequins
- Manchester Chronicles: A House Divided
Trivia[]
- Catherine is physically based on actress Marina Benedict.