Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a mild excl.; a euph. for damn! excl.

1815		M. Lewis 6 Dec. Journal of a West India Proprietor (1834) 19: Poh! now, bother, my dear!
1834		Marryat Peter Simple (1911) 111: Bother! you see it’s as much as she’ll do to weather the other point.
1842		S. Lover Handy Andy 24: ‘Bother!’ said Tom.
1862		Banffshire Jrnl 30 Dec. 7/1: They ain’t agoin to come over me with more o’ their fignarollios. Bother! There!
1878		W.S. Gilbert H.M.S. Pinafore 7: Bad language or abuse / I never, never use, / Whatever the emergency, / Though ‘Bother it,’ I may / Occasionally say, / I never use a big, big D—.
1887		W.S. Gilbert ‘The Bishop of Rum-Ti-Foo Again’ Fifty ‘Bab’ Ballads 236: Some sailors, whom he did not know, / Had landed there not long ago, / And taught them ‘Bother!’ also, ‘Blow!’.
1892		Lloyd's Wkly Newspaper 3 Jan. 6/5: 'Bother the woman,' said I to myself.
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 1 Dec. 132: Oh, bother it!
1916		Wipers Times 6 Mar. (2006) 29/1: ‘Bother!’ ejaculated Pink.
1934		D.L. Sayers Nine Tailors (1984) 160: If you did you’d be batty. Oh, bother!
1944		J. Cary Horse’s Mouth (1948) 231: Sara [...] said, ‘Bother it,’ and hopped out.