Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK tramp) begging, tramping; esp. in phr. on the downright, wandering the country as a beggar.

1842		Edinburgh Rev. July 484: Cadgers on the downright are those who beg from door to door.
1881		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 8 Mar. 7/4: I met with an old cadger who always does the ‘downright’.
1882		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 23 June 7/5: I had been living from hand to mouth — been ‘cadging on the downright,’ in fact.
1886		W. Newton Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 4: I go on the downright or common begging, as my age and respectful appearance help me much.
1895		Belfast Wkly News 21 Dec. 3/2: I reckon ‘he’s on the downright,’ getting his grub and doss the best way he can.
1908		W.H. Davies Autobiog. of a Super-Tramp 211: As for me [...] I am on the downright, and I go in for straight begging, without showing anything in my hand.
1932		F. Jennings Tramping with Tramps 213: On the ‘downright’ there are hundreds of men who have a wide capacity for friendship.
1935		M. Harrison Spring in Tartarus 300: He lacks the courage to ask ‘on the downright,’ as plain straightforward demanding is called.

2. a beggar.

1895

J. Caminada Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life I 14: Amongst the frequenters of that ‘boozing ken,’ would also be found the ‘downright,’ or cadger from door to door.