The Reverend Ernest Matthews was the dean of Merton College who travelled from Oxford to Gabriel Chase in Perivale in 1883 to speak with Josiah Samuel Smith about the latter's "theories" concerning evolution, in which Matthews disbelieved.

Matthews quarrelled with the Seventh Doctor, whom he mistook for Smith. As an ironic revenge, Smith turned him into an ape and put him on display. (TV: Ghost Light)