diff --git a/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringContains.java b/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringContains.java
index e1dd7627..913e229b 100644
--- a/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringContains.java
+++ b/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringContains.java
@@ -9,13 +9,13 @@
  * Tests if the argument is a string that contains a substring.
  */
 public class StringContains extends SubstringMatcher {
-    public StringContains(String substring) {
-        super("containing", substring);
+    public StringContains(boolean ignoringCase, String substring) {
+        super("containing", ignoringCase, substring);
     }
 
     @Override
     protected boolean evalSubstringOf(String s) {
-        return s.contains(substring);
+        return s.toLowerCase().contains(substring.toLowerCase());
     }
 
     /**
@@ -31,7 +31,11 @@ protected boolean evalSubstringOf(String s) {
      */
     @Factory
     public static Matcher<String> containsString(String substring) {
-        return new StringContains(substring);
+        return new StringContains(false, substring);
+    }
+    @Factory
+    public static Matcher<String> containsStringIgnoringCase(String substring) {
+        return new StringContains(true, substring);
     }
 
 }
diff --git a/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringEndsWith.java b/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringEndsWith.java
index 7638f48d..5d1fe249 100644
--- a/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringEndsWith.java
+++ b/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringEndsWith.java
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
  * Tests if the argument is a string that contains a substring.
  */
 public class StringEndsWith extends SubstringMatcher {
-    public StringEndsWith(String substring) { super("ending with", substring); }
+    public StringEndsWith(boolean ignoringCase, String substring) { super("ending with", ignoringCase, substring); }
 
     @Override
     protected boolean evalSubstringOf(String s) {
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ protected boolean evalSubstringOf(String s) {
      */
     @Factory
     public static Matcher<String> endsWith(String suffix) {
-        return new StringEndsWith(suffix);
+        return new StringEndsWith(false, suffix);
     }
 
 }
diff --git a/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringStartsWith.java b/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringStartsWith.java
index af3d5a92..5f518ae8 100644
--- a/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringStartsWith.java
+++ b/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringStartsWith.java
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
  * Tests if the argument is a string that contains a substring.
  */
 public class StringStartsWith extends SubstringMatcher {
-    public StringStartsWith(String substring) { super("starting with", substring); }
+    public StringStartsWith(boolean ignoringCase, String substring) { super("starting with", ignoringCase, substring); }
 
     @Override
     protected boolean evalSubstringOf(String s) {
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@ protected boolean evalSubstringOf(String s) {
      *      the substring that the returned matcher will expect at the start of any examined string
      */
     @Factory
-    public static Matcher<String> startsWith(String prefix) {
-        return new StringStartsWith(prefix);
-    }
+    public static Matcher<String> startsWith(String prefix) { return new StringStartsWith(false, prefix); }
 
 }
diff --git a/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/SubstringMatcher.java b/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/SubstringMatcher.java
index 25644d4c..4ebc153a 100644
--- a/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/SubstringMatcher.java
+++ b/hamcrest-core/src/main/java/org/hamcrest/core/SubstringMatcher.java
@@ -9,16 +9,18 @@ public abstract class SubstringMatcher extends TypeSafeMatcher<String> {
     //       String, StringBuffer, StringBuilder, CharBuffer, etc (joe).
 
     private final String relationship;
+    private final boolean ignoringCase;
     protected final String substring;
 
-    protected SubstringMatcher(String relationship, String substring) {
+    protected SubstringMatcher(String relationship, boolean ignoringCase, String substring) {
         this.relationship = relationship;
+        this.ignoringCase = ignoringCase;
         this.substring = substring;
     }
 
     @Override
     public boolean matchesSafely(String item) {
-        return evalSubstringOf(item);
+        return evalSubstringOf(ignoringCase ? item.toLowerCase() :item);
     }
     @Override
     public void describeMismatchSafely(String item, Description mismatchDescription) {
@@ -31,6 +33,9 @@ public void describeTo(Description description) {
                 .appendText(relationship)
                 .appendText(" ")
                 .appendValue(substring);
+        if (ignoringCase) {
+            description.appendText(" ignoring case");
+        }
     }
 
     protected abstract boolean evalSubstringOf(String string);
diff --git a/hamcrest-core/src/test/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringContainsTest.java b/hamcrest-core/src/test/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringContainsTest.java
index 8ad31c27..d455508a 100644
--- a/hamcrest-core/src/test/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringContainsTest.java
+++ b/hamcrest-core/src/test/java/org/hamcrest/core/StringContainsTest.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 package org.hamcrest.core;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.core.StringContains.containsString;
+import static org.hamcrest.core.StringContains.containsStringIgnoringCase;
 
 import org.hamcrest.AbstractMatcherTest;
 import org.hamcrest.Matcher;
@@ -23,12 +24,21 @@ public void testMatchesSubstrings() {
         assertMatches(stringContains, "START" + EXCERPT);
         assertMatches(stringContains, "START" + EXCERPT + "END");
         assertMatches(stringContains, EXCERPT + EXCERPT);
+        assertDoesNotMatch(stringContains, "XC");
+
         assertMismatchDescription("was \"Something else\"", stringContains, "Something else");
-        assertMismatchDescription("was \"XC\"", stringContains, "XC");
+        assertDescription("a string containing \"EXCERPT\"", stringContains);
     }
 
+    public void testMatchesSubstringsIgnoringCase() {
+        final Matcher<String> ignoringCase = containsStringIgnoringCase("ExCert");
+        assertMatches(ignoringCase, "eXcERT" + "END");
+        assertMatches(ignoringCase, "START" + "EXCert");
+        assertMatches(ignoringCase, "START" + "excERT" + "END");
+        assertMatches(ignoringCase, "eXCert" + "excErt");
+        assertDoesNotMatch(ignoringCase, "xc");
 
-    public void testHasAReadableDescription() {
-        assertDescription("a string containing \"EXCERPT\"", stringContains);
+        assertMismatchDescription("was \"Something else\"", ignoringCase, "Something else");
+        assertDescription("a string containing \"ExCert\" ignoring case", ignoringCase);
     }
 }