Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a cobbler.

1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 75/2: I shan’t go with it, you nasty old waxy, waxy, waxy, waxy, waxy! [...] Ah, you nasty cobbler! who’s got a lump of wax on his breeches?
1877		Northampton Mercury 28 July 7/5: The vice-president [...] was himself a shoe-maker, a genuine ‘waxy’.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 93: Waxy, a shoemaker.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 141: ‘Two old Dublin women on top of Nelson’s pillar’ [...] ‘That’s new,’ Myles Crawford said. ‘That’s copy. Out for the waxies’ Dargle. Two old trickies, what?’.
1936		Irish Times 25 Mar. n.p.: In Dublin slang of the period a cobbler was known as a ‘waxy’ [BS].
1973		H. Leonard Da (1981) Act I: The Waxies were tailors and the Waxie Dargle was a fair they used to have in Bray.
1982		(con. 1930s–50s) E. Mac Thomáis Janey Mack, Me Shirt is Black 70: Leather isn’t the same now as it was years ago or are the waxies using cardboard to make boots and shoes?