Rosalind Hicks

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Rosalind Hicks
Agatha Christie with her daughter Rosalind.jpg
With her mother Agatha Christie, c. 1926
Born
Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Christie

(1919-08-05)5 August 1919
Ashfield, Torquay, Devon, England
Died28 October 2004(2004-10-28) (aged 85)
Torbay, Devon, England
NationalityBritish
EducationBenenden School
Spouse(s)
  • Hubert Prichard
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1940; died 1944)​
  • Anthony Hicks
    ​
    (m. 1949)​
Children1
Parent(s)Agatha Christie
Archibald Christie
Relatives

Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Hicks (formerly Prichard, née Christie; 5 August 1919 – 28 October 2004) was the only child of author Agatha Christie.

Biography[]

Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Christie was born on 5 August 1919 in her grandmother's home in Ashfield, Torquay. Her father, Archie Christie, was a military officer previously in the Royal Flying Corps.[1] In 1914, he married aspiring writer Agatha Christie, daughter of Frederick Alvah Miller and Clarissa Miller. At the time of Rosalind's birth, the manuscript of The Mysterious Affair At Styles, Christie's first novel, had been sent out to John Lane and was published a year later.[2]

At age 7, Rosalind and her parents moved to Sunningdale, where they bought a house, naming it Styles. After several months, Rosalind's grandmother, Clarissa Miller, died. Deeply wounded, Agatha moved back into her childhood home, where she was visited by her husband, who confessed his affair with his secretary Nancy Neele. Following these traumatic events, Agatha disappeared on 3 December 1926 and registered as Neele at a hotel in Yorkshire. There, she was found by the police ten days later and never spoke to Rosalind about the incident. Her parents divorced shortly thereafter[3] and in 1928, Archie Christie married Nancy Neele; their only child together and Rosalind's half brother Archibald was born in 1930. In the same year, Rosalind's mother remarried to Max Mallowan.

At age 11, her mother dedicated the novel, The Murder at the Vicarage, “To Rosalind”. She studied at Benenden School and finished her education in Switzerland and France. As an adult, she spent much of her time in the Greenway Estate, which her mother bought in 1938.

Rosalind married Major Hubert de Burr Prichard (14 May 1907 – 16 August 1944), son of Colonel Hubert Prichard, in 1940 at Ruthin, Denbighshire, Wales. Their only child, Mathew Prichard, was born in 1943. A year later, Rosalind's husband died in the Battle of Normandy.[4] She remarried in 1949, to lawyer Anthony Arthur Hicks (26 September 1916 — 15 April 2005)[5] at Kensington, London, England.[6] They lived in the Greenway Estate until Rosalind's death on 28 October 2004, in Torbay, aged 85. She was survived by her son and husband, who was to die six months later.[7]

Mother's estate[]

Following Agatha Christie's death in 1976, Rosalind and Christie's husband inherited most of the £106,683 net (about £773,000 in 2019), which she left behind.[8] Rosalind also received 36% of Agatha Christie Limited and the copyrights to Christie’s play A Daughter’s a Daughter. Believing the main character was based on her, she remained unenthusiastic about this.[9]

Furthermore, Rosalind declined many biographies about her mother, only commissioning Janet Morgan to write an authorised biography in 1984.[6] She became president of the Agatha Christie Society in 1993, naming David Suchet and Joan Hickson, whose performances of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple she approved of, Vice Presidents of the company. In a 2014 interview with This Morning, Suchet stated:[10]

"I never met Agatha, but the greatest compliment [...], she [Rosalind] actually said that famously her mother hated people playing Poirot. It never came up to expectations, but one morning she came up on the set and said, 'I have to tell you, I think my mother would have been very proud.'"

In 1995, Rosalind reviewed a script for the adaption of Christie’s novel Towards Zero, containing issues such as incest. Appalled, she demanded the changing of the name of the film and its characters. It went on to be released as Innocent Lies.

Following Rosalind's death in 2004, her son Mathew Prichard inherited her shares of the Agatha Christie Limited as well as the Greenway Estate, which he sold to the National Trust. Today, Prichard's son James Prichard is CEO and chairman of Agatha Christie Limited.[11][12]

References[]

  1. ^ "Rosalind Hicks". The Scotsman. 16 November 2004. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  2. ^ "About Index". www.agathachristie.com. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  3. ^ Morgan, Janet (19 November 2004). "Obituary: Rosalind Hicks". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  4. ^ "A voyage round Agatha Christie". The Guardian. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Wills and Probate from 1996 to present, Arthur A Hicks". UK Government. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Rosalind Hicks". The Telegraph. 13 November 2004. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  7. ^ Hammer, Joshua (June 2011). "Where Agatha Christie Dreamed Up Murder". Smithsonian.
  8. ^ "1976: Crime writer Agatha Christie dies". BBC. 12 January 1976. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Solved: The mystery of forgotten Christie play". The Independent. 6 December 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  10. ^ "David Suchet Reveals He Misses Playing Poirot". This Morning. ITV. 6 February 2019 – via YouTube.
  11. ^ Krekeler, Elmar (6 July 2015). "Wo Agatha Christie ihre Sommer verbrachte und mordete" [Nice murder in Agatha Christie's summer house]. Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  12. ^ Taylor, Jerome (25 February 2009). "The Big Question: How big is the Agatha Christie industry, and what explains her enduring appeal?". The Independent. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
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