Mrs Miggins.

[Joe_the_Lion]

Used as a generic term for "An old lady down the road" in Blackadder, does the name Mrs Miggins have any historical significance?

[dilligaf]

Didn't she have the pie shop?

[Loosehead]

It's not a generic term, It's a specific character, spoken of in Blackadder 2 and actually present in Balackadder 3. I havn't heard of any historical significance.

[joko]

yes she was a real character who ran a pie shop, particularly in series 3 i think (the once where hugh laurie is a prince)

[joko]

i expect they have brought it back in other series though, as an 'in joke' to mean an old lady down the road...

[playmisty]

I am answering this rather late, but I think it is a play on words with the way that old ladies tend to refer to themselves as 'Mrs Muggins', thinking that they are being taken for granted by other people, and hoping to elicit sympathy. I think the writers mixed this in with a general ring of 'minging', as in the Viz character who is (I think) called Meddlesome Ratbag. I don't think there is anything of historical significance in it, as the other answers say.

[joko]

mmm...misty, reaching a lot there, i think.

people just say 'muggins' not mrs muggins.
but why not just call her mrs muggins if that is the intention?
mrs miggins is not considered a mug in the show, so why would they make such a tenous link?

miggins sound nothing like minging, and certainly doesn't make you think of the word.
although mrs miggins generally was minging, if the writers want to name her as such they would have chosen something more deliberate, like mrs mingington or something.

not sure about meddlesome ratbag, never heard of that character, but I am quite sure that comedy writers of blackadder calibre would not consider some injoke regarding viz to be part of their scripts.