So I came back to my computer figuring a quick google would put the Muffin squarely in its place. Not quite the case, but I thought I'd share what I found.
That is, I found this:
Originally eaten by the "downstairs" servants in England's Victorian society, the English muffin surfaced and rose to prominence in Great Britain when members of all classes of society became aware of its goodness. The family baker made English muffins from leftover bread and biscuit dough scraps and mashed potatoes. He fried the batter on a hot griddle, creating light, crusty muffins for the servants. Once members of the "upstairs" family tasted these rich muffins, they began to request them for themselves - especially during teatime.
As a result of the English muffin becoming the "most fancied" bread on the isle, English muffin factories sprang up all over England. Muffin men could be heard in the streets selling their muffins from wooden trays slung around their necks. For teatime in private homes and clubs, the English muffins would be split and toasted over an open fire and served in a covered sterling dish alongside tea. The prominence of the muffin men in English society was evident when "Oh, do you know the muffin man" became a popular children's nursery rhyme. The popularity of the English muffin reached its zenith in Great Britain during the years preceding World War I.
Not sure who wrote it originally, but it's been copied word for word all over the net without attribution or variance in wording, so god knows how true it is.
Other reports suggest that it's origins are Welsh and date back to the 10th century, back to a muffin cooked on hot rocks called bara maen. And that may have become the crumpet and the crumpet itself may have been what one Samuel Bath Thomas had in mind to copy when, after arriving in America in 1875, he opened a shop in Manhattan in 1880 to sell this "muffin" based loosely on one he remembered his mother making. It's his name that has the ubiquitous Thomas's brand sold in American supermarkets today and which, I read, are now exported to England where they're quite popular.
And in fact, with a tweak here and there to clarify exactly what 'muffin' refers to, all of the above could be true. Or none of it.
) A clue to this is the use of the word "biscuit" for something that is soft and doughy. In Australia, a biscuit is something crunchy. An Australian friend of mine said once, of US cookery, "Cookies and crackers are biscuits but biscuits are scones."