Katie Lennard-Payne was born on 10 September 1880 at Bonne Bay, St John's Newfoundland, Canada. Her father, Charles Lennard-Payne, was a vicar from Essex, who had married Canadian Kate Eager Hayward, the daughter of the Hon. Mr Justice Hayward Q.C., the previous year, whilst with a Church of England Mission.
By 1883 the family had returned to Essex where Katie's father became Rector at the small village of Willingale Spain near Ongar. Three more children were born.
Katie's mother died in 1920 and she continued to live at the rectory with her father and sister. Her brother John Edward had served with distinction in the Great War as a captain in the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment and won the MC and DSO. Her father died in 1934 and in 1945 her brother Frank died in Malaysia as a civilian prisoner of the Japanese - he had been a planter in British North Borneo.
When Katie died on 3 January 1957 her address was Moseley, Birmingham, but she died at 1, Manor Road, Coventry. Quite why she ended her life in the Midlands is as yet unknown.