Landlady of 221B Baker Street and Holmes’s long-suffering domestic support. Present throughout the Canon as a background constant.
Role and character
- Manages the Baker Street household; admits clients, announces visitors, serves meals
- Tolerates Holmes’s eccentric habits: late-night violin, chemical experiments, bullet holes in the wall, tobacco stored in a slipper, visitors at all hours
- Described as a patient and devoted woman who has great respect for Holmes, though he frequently treats her as furniture
- In The Mazarin Stone (MAZA, Case-Book), she moves the wax dummy Holmes created as a decoy — a small moment that shows her practical willingness to assist
Significance
Mrs. Hudson represents the domestic anchor of the Canon. Her consistent presence — she is never named as a source of friction — makes 221B Baker Street feel like a genuine home rather than merely a workplace. Her patience is part of what permits Holmes’s genius to operate freely.