In the novel Elephants Can Remember, Mrs Matcham is a former nanny to Ariadne Oliver, and several other children. Years later she worked for Mr and Mrs Barnaby in Malacca. The Barnabys were friends of the Ravenscrofts. While she was there a young child drowned in a river. Mrs Matcham is one of the titular "elephants".
She had a sister called Gracie, who died of cancer. Mrs Matcham tells Mrs Oliver that she is all alone now, and mentions Gracie's death, as well as those of her last remaining relations.
Mrs Matcham is described as being a "very old woman with a wrinkled face, humped shoulders and a general arthritic appearance". Her exact age is not given, but it suggested that she might be seventy or eighty.
Mrs Matcham had lived in a home with a name like Sunset House of Happiness for the Aged for a year and a quarter, but she did not like it, as she was not allowed to bring her own photographs and furniture. She now lives in a "small, rather dilapidated-looking cottage" in a side street in Little Saltern Minor. She tells Mrs Oliver that she is very comfortable there, as she has all her own things, and a nice helper comes in every day to see if she is all right.
When Mrs Oliver first knocks on her door, Mrs Matcham's face appears unwelcoming, showing "distaste for those who came and knocked at the home of an Englishwoman's castle". Mrs Matcham may be seventy or eighty, but is still a "valiant defender of her home". However, as soon as she recognises Mrs Oliver, she welcomes her in, calling her "Miss Ariadne".
Mrs Matcham shakes hands with Mrs Oliver, but her hands are "rather unwilling to obey their owner's orders". She asks Mrs Oliver if she is still writing her "pretty stories". Mrs Oliver doubts that the detective and crime stories she writes could be considered pretty stories, but she thinks that this is "very much a habit of Mrs Matcham's".
Mrs Matcham has been to a lot of different parts of the world, including India, Siam, Hing Kong, Egypt, and South America. In Malaya, she worked for the Barnabys, and stayed on after the children went to school, to look after Mrs Barnaby.
Mrs Matcham tells Mrs Oliver that either General or Lady Ravenscroft (she is not sure which) had a sister who had received treatment for mental illness. This sister had been very upset after the death of her husband, and had come to Malaya to stay with the Ravenscrofts. While she was staying with them, there was some kind of incident in which a child was harmed or killed, and some people thought that she was involved. She was later sent back to England for further treatment.
Mrs Matcham's favourite tea is Tophole Thathams tea, and she is very pleased when Mrs Oliver gives her a tin, because she can hardly ever get it nowadays.
Mrs Matcham's “children”[]
- Ariadne Oliver
- Moya
- Captain Wilson
- Two naval officers
- Two military gentlemen
- An archaeologist