Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a soldier, also attrib.; as v. (see cite 1904).

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 273: swoddy, or swod-gill a soldier.
1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry I viii: The half-and-half coves are somewhat different from the swaddies, and gay tyke boys, at the dog pit – Eh, Tom?
1833		‘A Chaunt by Slapped-up Kate and Dubber Daff’ in Swell!!! or, Slap-Up Chaunter 47: Her ogles are sharp as a swoddy’s rum dagger.
1836		‘Nanny, The Frisky’ in Flash Casket 76: The troopers of Broadway, can stand some rough ware, / And the swaddies all go there to prowl.
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 45: These kens are tenanted by a blackguard [...] school of pugging shakes, whose chief fame is in [...] poxing a swaddy. [Ibid.] 68: Ven I first piped her, she vos a swoddys mot; vell, she did the charvering dodge, vith the other swods, so her old man turned her up.
1855		‘Things I Do Like To See’ in Diprose’s Comic Song Book 24: I like to see happy old swaddies and tars.
1867		W.H. Smyth Sailor’s Word-Bk (1991) 668: Swaddie. A discharged soldier.
1873		Sl. Dict. 315: Swaddy, or coolie a soldier. The former was originally applied to a discharged soldier, and perhaps came from shoddy, which is made from soldiers’ and policemen’s worn-out coats. The term was one of opprobrium, and was probably the result of a long peace, for it became obsolete as soon as the Crimean War commenced.
1882		Bristol Magpie 28 Dec. 11/2: I'd like to for a soldier go, / But wouldn't ape your ‘swaddy’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Mar. 11/2: ‘Like t’ hev a peep inside, Miss?’ asked a sandy-haired ‘swaddy’ who was keeping guard.
1891		Sporting Times 4 Apr. 3/4: A train of immense length conveyed the ‘swaddies’ to Aldershot.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 14 Jan. 1/6: Mrs Knorr, the condemned ‘angel-maker,’ [...] ran away from home with a soldier, but in justice to the ‘swaddie’ [...] there is no evidence to show that [...] he even blew the organ.
1900		Sporting Times 13 Jan. 7/1: Lyin’ on me blankets, / Kickin’ of me ’eels, / Seein’ wot a swaddie sees, / Knowin’ ’ow ’e feels / ’Ere’s a bloomin’ picnic! ’Ere’s a bit o’ fun!
1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 2 Jan. 2/4: When the swaddy hysteria can be [...] satirised, it seems as if the citizens were returning to their senses.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 17 Jan. 4/5: There wasn’t a swaddy or a piece of bunting in the show.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 19 June 9/3: Swaddying is a doleful failure in these parts. The Westralian young man fights shy of toy-soldiering.
1908		A.N. Lyons Arthur’s 155: I don’t know any swoddies.
1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Oct. 36/3: Some of the horses donated by Northern squatters to Bananaland’s swaddies are turning out to be the worst outlaws ever yarded.
1915		L.D. Richards diary 5 Mar. 🌐 We saw plenty of British ‘swoddies’. Those not dangerously wounded are sent there on fatigue.
1918		L.N. Smith Lingo of No Man’s Land 60: OLD SWATTIE An old soldier.
1922		‘J.H. Ross’ Mint (1955) 36: [ref. to trainee airmen] You bloody swaddies can’t half yaffle.
1927		(con. 1835–40) P. Herring Bold Bendigo 160: As they entered the yard a couple of ‘swaddies’ carrying buckets of water into the stables called out the barrack sergeant.
1933		S. O’Casey Within the Gates iv: Where would you muckers be if it warnt for us swaddies, eh? Poor swaddies rovin’ the world, pickin’ up fevers, to keep you sife at ’ome.
1936		(con. 1900s) F. Richards Old Soldier Sahib (1965) 125: I thought I was the only poor unfortunate swaddy awake.
1945		J. Henderson Gunner Inglorious (1974) 168: A mouldering old antique shop, hidden away deep down those dark dirty alleys only swaddies (soldiers) find their way into.
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 85: You’d better be on your guard for the next couple of days because two big swaddies are after you.
1963		C. Wood ‘Prisoner and Escort’ in Cockade (1965) I ii: I’m just an ordinary swaddie.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 94: A gang of swaddies were staggering through the gap.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 167: A bunch of fookin’ swaddies on the road turnin’ the lads back.
2001		A. Sillitoe Birthday 68: All these swaddies, though, and from one regiment.