Catherine Kiernan (nee Lamond) was born near Antwerp, Belgium in 1930 of Scottish/Belgian parentage. She came to live in England at the age of nine, when she began studying the violin and composition. Subsequently she studied the violin with Winifred Copperwhet and Yfrah Neaman, and composition with R. Barclay-Wilson at the Guildhall School of Music. After many years of teaching the violin, playing chamber music, recital playing and conducting her amateur string orchestra, the Leopold Players, she returned to composition and became a member of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain and the PRS.

In 1991 the Fidelio Quartet gave the first performance of her Quartet Op.23, including the slow movement "Lamont's Lament".  Many other works have received professional performances in the United Kingdom and America.