Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(UK Und.) a ‘nigger minstrel’, a burnt cork artiste, who works on the street.

1893

P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 21: Behold me the leader of my first troupe of waxies. [Ibid.] 34: I’m only a waxey, feeding on the bounty of servants, chucked pennies like a dog, moved on by policemen like prostitutes.