Hmmm...

CK says: SWMBO came from Rumpole of the Bailey a legal sitcom of the same period. Rumpole either referred to his wife as Mrs Rumpole, or "she who must be obeyed".

We've had this somewhere else, of course, if only I could find the reference, and as I noted, dear ol Lumpore (as the author John Mortimer is sometimes referred to in parts of South East Asia), got the reference himself from H Rider Haggard's classic late 19th century novel She, in which the 'she' in the title was short for She-who-must-be-obeyed, which is what her subjects called her.

cheer

the sunshine warrior