Muriel Matters

Muriel Lilah Matters (12 November 1877 – 17 November 1969) was an Australian born suffragist, lecturer, journalist, educator, actress and elocutionist. Based in Britain from 1905 till her death, Matters is best known for her work on behalf of the Women's Freedom League during the height of the militant struggle to enfranchise women in the United Kingdom.

Muriel Matters was born in the inner city suburb of Bowden in Adelaide, South Australia to a large Methodist family. Her mother, Emma Alma Matters (née Warburton) gave birth to five daughters and five sons with Muriel being the third oldest. Her father was John Leonard Matters, a cabinetmaker and later stockbroker.

Matters spent the majority of her youth in South Australia and during her time there the colony had gained widespread notoriety for being the first self-governing territory to give women equal franchise on the same terms as it was granted to men. The legislation was carried by the Kingston Government in 1894 and, though too young to be directly involved, Matters would have been inadvertently acquainted with the ideas of the Women's Movement.

During Matters' upbringing she was introduced to two Nineteenth Century literary figures who proved influential in informing her political consciousness. These were the American poet Walt Whitman and the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, author of A Doll's House. Whilst attending elocution classes as a child, the works of both of these writers featured prominently.

Matters studied music at the University of Adelaide and by the late 1890s had begun to act and conduct recitals, initially in Adelaide, but later in Sydney and Melbourne with the Robert Brough Company.

At the time of Federation, Matters returned to Adelaide and taught elocution while concurrently performing for audiences at numerous halls and saloons across the state. In 1904, she left Adelaide once more to join her family who in the meantime had moved to Perth, Western Australia. In Perth she continued her acting and was encouraged by friends in the industry to further her career in London. She soon followed their advice and, in late 1905, a twenty-eight-year-old Muriel Matters boarded the passenger ship Persic – destination London, England.

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