Green’s Dictionary of Slang

drunk; thus worker of the canon, a drunkard.

1879		‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macmillan’s Mag. (London) XL 502: One night I was with the mob, I got canon (drunk).
1896		‘Thieves’ Sl.’ Gent.’s Mag. CCLXXXI Oct. 349: We may notice, too [...] ‘cannon’ (drunk).
1898		Dly Teleg. 30 Dec. 8/6: ‘For I was gettin’ cannoned too’.
1905		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Off the Mark’ Sporting Times 22 Apr. 1/3: In point of fact, alas! / I was pretty well ‘half-cannoned’ all the while!
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 275: He mustn’t get cannon – well, drunk – or that’ll make him shaky and spoil his hands.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight 234: A drunkard is a worker of the canon.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).