Heritage

Dame Ngaio Marsh

Ngaio Marsh in old age, one of the last to be taken of her

Ngaio Marsh in old age, one of the last to be taken of her [between 1980 and 1982]

One of Canterbury’s greatest writers, Edith Ngaio Marsh, was born in Fendalton on 23 April 1895.

She is internationally recognised as a crime writer and was an amazingly successful director for the University Drama Society. In 1967 the University of Canterbury named a new theatre after her, and she directed the first performance there Twelfth Night, which opened on June 2, 1967.

Her family lived in a rented house on Carlton Mill Road, until her father built a house in Cashmere. They left Fendalton "seated on top of our tents and boxes in a spring-wagon". From 1910 Ngaio Marsh attended St. Margarets Girls' School, referring to it as "Miss Ross’s school".

She attended Canterbury College School of Arts and a career as an artist or professional actress seemed to offer fulfilment. But if she loved the stage, she devoted her energies to becoming a writer of crime fiction and in the 1930s was crowned as one of the 'Queens of Crime' alongside such figures as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.

She published 32 novels in London, Boston and New York as well as a number of essays, plays and one enigmatic autobiography, Black Beech and Honeydew (1966).

Her skill as a novelist led her admirers to assert that she reigned supreme for excellence of style and characterization and Newsweek defined her novels as 'the best whodunits ever written.' The New York Times called her New Zealand’s best known literary figure. Dame Ngaio rather deprecated crime fiction, though sometimes she asserted its worth. 'It is a form that can command our aesthetic approval,' she noted. 'It is, by its nature, shapely’.

Ngaio Marsh photographed during the 1940s: 'Ngaio in the spotlight'

Ngaio Marsh photographed during the 1940s: "Ngaio in the spotlight" [194-]

Charismatic, distinctive and domineering, she made an impact on young writers, editors and, especially aspiring young actors. Mervyn Thompson found her 'a tall, terrifying woman in black,' whose writing was 'glib as the nib of a Conway Stewart.' Then he praised her for nurturing the gifts of youthful actors and writers. Bruce Mason praised her as 'den-mother to a horde of the talented young for more than 40 years.' It was a golden age for drama in the city.

She was awarded an honourary D.Litt. by the University of Canterbury, at which she made an enormous impact with her productions of Shakespeare, in particular; an M.B.E. was followed by Dame Commander. By the end of her long career, Dame Ngaio was a living legend. Her home in Cashmere has become a museum.

The following is an extract from her autobiography: 'Black Beech and Honeydew'.

"In the first decade of this century, Fendalton was a small genteel suburb on the outskirts of Christchurch… Large Edwardian houses stood back in their own grounds masked by English trees. Small houses hid with refinement behind high evergreen fences. Ours was a small house. There was a lawn in front and an orchard behind. To me they were extensive but I don't suppose they amounted to more than a quarter of an acre… From the branches of a Wellingtonia I looked south across rooftops and gardens to a plantation of oaks with a river flowing through it where we kept our rowing-boat p12.

"Across the land in a very big house (The home of Arthur E.G. Rhodes "Te Koraha" now part of Rangi Ruru School) with a long drive, a lodge at the gates, a horse-paddock, carriages and gigs, a motor, grooms, servants and a nanny, lived a boy and girl with whom I loved to play when my mother visited there… The Duke and Duchess of York (afterwards King George V and Queen Mary) came to stay at this house. I remember being lifted on a high evergreen fence to watch my friend’s uncle wire-jumping his horse for the Duke’s entertainment and I remember my parents making ready for a royal reception" p36-37.

book cover: Ngaio Marsh: her life in crime, by Joanne DraytonMore information