Matron is the rank of the most senior nurse of a hospital. Other uses Long before women were commonly employed as fully sworn police officers, many police forces employed uniformed women with limited powers to search and attend to female prisoners and deal with matters specifically affecting women and children. These female officers were often known as "police matrons". Officers in women's prisons sometimes also used the title of "matron"; sometimes the matron was a senior officer who supervised the other wardresses. Institutions such as children's homes and workhouses were also run by matrons. The matron of a workhouse was very often the wife of the master and looked after the domestic affairs of the establishment. This was, in fact, the original meaning of the term. Its use in hospitals was borrowed from workhouses. The term was also used in boarding schools (and is still used in some British independent schools) for the woman in charge of domestic affairs in a boarding house or the school nurse. In the past, the matron was sometimes the wife of the housemaster. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the female spouse of a temple president or his counselors is referred to as a temple matron. In New York City, movie theater matrons were employed beginning in 1936 to ensure that children would behave in theaters. They were licensed by the Department of Health until 1943, and the ordinance that required their hiring and selection was formally repealed by the city in 1995. References Nursing in the United Kingdom