Matron
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
Seems to mean, originally, a woman who has been a mother. It is often used as the style of a female superintendent of an institution or establishment where the duties involve domestic care, the oversight of children, the nursing of the sick, &c. Jury of matrons. A jury formed of women, which is impanelled to try the question whether a woman be with child or not.