Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a term of reproach or contempt.

1641		Bartholomew Faire in C. Hindley Old Bk Collector’s Misc. 5: Showing his art of Legerdemain to the admiration and astonishment of a company of cockloaches.
1847–81		Halliwell Dict. Archaic and Provincial Words I 261/1: cockloche. A simple fellow (Fr.).