He was ordained deacon in 1907 and priest in 1908 and was a
curate at
St Mary Abbots'
Kensington and St Peter's Regent Square. After that he was a
lecturer in and then a
professor of
theology at King's College London. From 1918 he was also
Dean of the college. In 1931 he became an
Honorary Chaplain to the King and
Dean of Exeter. Then in 1934 he became
Dean of St Paul's, a post he held for 33 years. At the time of his appointment, he was president-elect of the
Modern Churchmen's Union. He was described by his predecessor,
William Ralph Inge, as something of an "Orthodox Modernist". On 2 June 1940 the term "miracle of Dunkirk" was used for the first time by Matthews in a speech. He was praising the rescue of thousands of British soldiers and their allies from being encircled by the German Army in France. He died on 4 December 1973. ==Published works==