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Green’s Dictionary of Slang

peter grievous n.

also peter grievance

[Fr. petit-grief, imported by refugee Huguenots to Sussex dial]

a whiner, a complainer; a whinging child; thus Peter Grievous touch, a state of possessing such qualities.

1838		Westmorland Gaz. 1 Dec. 4/3: The Peter Grevous touch is in opposition to the cordial grapple.
1873		Sl. Dict. 251: Peter Grievous, a miserable, melancholy fellow; a croaker.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 7: Peter Grievous - A miserable, melancholy fellow.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues V 178/1: Peter-Grievous [...] (common). — A fretful child.
1891		Newcastle Courant 3 Oct. 4/7: The ‘Peter Grievous’ touch indicates ‘pensive, deprecatory, accompanied by a cast-down look’.
1909		Surry Mirror 23 Apr. 5/4: Their professed anxiety for public interests fizzles down into an absurd and exaggerated ‘Peter Grevous’ complaint.