Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a tramp, a vagrant.

1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 310/2: ‘Brighton is a town where there is a great many furnished cribs, let to needys (nightly lodgers) that are molled up,’ [that is to say, associated with women in the sleeping-roooms].
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1886		W. Newton Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 12: They are called the ‘Lurkers,’ and theirs is a very common game amongst the ‘Needies’ or travellers.
1893		P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 27: I just went to one of my regular padding-kens to sell the mungarly to some of the needies there for nova soldi.
1909		W.H. Davies Beggars 104: Beggars – travellers or needies.
1926		W.H. Davies Adventures of Johnny Walker 190: Old beggars use the dignified word ‘travellers,’ in preference to beggars, needies, or callers.

2. see needful n. (1)