Matilda Carse

Matilda B. Carse (November 19, 1835 – June 3, 1917) was an Irish-born American businesswoman, social reformer, publisher, and leader of the temperance movement. With Frances E. Willard and Lady Henry Somerset, Carse helped to found the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).

The death of Carse's youngest son caused her to devote her life to the alleviation of the poor and suffering, especially among children. She was president of the Central Chicago branch of the WCTU (CCWCTU) since 1878. She founded the Woman's Temperance Publishing Association and in January, 1880, the first number of the Signal was published. This was a large, sixteen page weekly paper and two years later, when Our Union was merged with it, it became The Union Signal, the national organ of the WCTU. In this publishing business, Carse started the first stock company composed entirely of women as no man could own stock in the Woman's Temperance Publishing Association. Carse was president and financial factor of this association from its inception. In 1885, she began planning for the Temperance Temple, National headquarters of the WCTU, which was completed in 1892 at a cost of US$1,200,000. Besides the various charities supported by the CCWCTU, Carse was actively interested in many outside philanthropies, and her name was sought by benevolent societies and charitable boards. She was long prominent in Chicago civic life and charities, and especially on behalf of women.