Andrew Marsh

In the short story The Case of the Missing Will, Andrew Marsh was the uncle of Violet Marsh. Andrew was the elder of two brothers, sons of a small yeoman farmer in Devonshire. He emigrated to Australia and made his fortune by speculating on land. He later returned to England where he bought Crabtree Manor, a farmhouse in Devonshire. When Roger Marsh and his wife died, their daughter Violet became an orphan, Andrew took her to live with him and raised her almost like his own daughter.

However Andrew had a very different outlook on education compared with Violet. He himself had very little formal education and placed little value on book knowledge. He felt that girls should learn practical housework, be useful about the home and have as little book learning as possible. Violet objected to this and wanted a university education. They quarreled over this and this led to Violet leaving the house some nine years before the events in the story. Violet had obtained a scholarship and went on to Girton at Cambridge where she subsequently obtained a B.Sc. Andrew and Violet thus parted ways. Andrew told Violet that he had always planned for Violet to be his sole heiress but if she persisted in what he called her "new-fangled notions" then she would get nothing from him. Violet accepted this and they continued to maintain a cordial relationship.

When Andrew died, he left Violet a strange will which stated that she could live at Crabtree Manor for a year, during which time she could "prove her wits" and if she failed to do so after a year, all the fortune would pass on to various charitable institutions. To Violet, and also to Poirot whom she consulted, this seemed to imply that there was a such of money or even a second will hidden somewhere in the house.

Portrayals
Andrew Marsh is portrayed by Mark Kingston in the film adaptation of The Case of the Missing Will in Series 5 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot. In this adaptation, Andrew has a totally different backstory, although he also did make his fortune by speculating on land in Australia. Here, far from having no education, Andrew was a Cambridge graduate and a former president of the Union. He also values education, and in a will made some 10 years before the events in the show, he had set aside sums for the education of the sons of various friends, although, in a sexist fashion, he left nothing for Violet. He appeared to have chauvinistic views about the role of women all through and spoke against equality of the sexes at a Cambridge Union debate at the beginning of the show. Secretly, however, he was pleased that Violet was in Cambridge about to graduate and very of her acheivements. In this adaptation, the main premise is changed.

In this adaptation, it is not so much that he made a will which he wants Violet to find. Here, he wants to change his will to leave everything to Violet and asks Poirot to be his executor. Andrew however dies the next day before the will can be written. An older will also goes missing. Poirot must "execute" Andrew's wishes as spoken to him and see that Violet gets her inheritance.

This adaptation has two other points of divergence from the original story. First, Violet is not his niece. Andrew is guardian of Violet who is said to be the daughter of his business partner. Only later does Poirot uncover the fact that Violet is actually Andrew's illegitimate daughter through Phyllida Campion. Second, Andrew is a personal friend of Poirot. Poirot says Andrew was his first and best friend when he moved to England. They had met at the Cavendish Clinic years back in a dentist's waiting room.