Green’s Dictionary of Slang

out of funds, impoverished.

1903		A. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise 183: Him an’ me an’ Cocoa Charlie got back from Gatwick last Tuesday night absolutely hearts-of-oak.
c.1908		Leigh & Powell [perf. Marie Lloyd] Twiddly Wink 🎵 Timothy Brown at Brighton - gay? Well, no. / Pockets are rather light an’ funds are low. [...] In a flash, what a joke! He's forgotten he's ’earts of oak!
1910		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘His Lincoln Form’ Sporting Times 12 Mar. 1/4: I’d be foolish to wait until he’s ‘hearts of oak,’ / And he’s always like that after Lincoln!
1937		L. Lane Me and My Girl I i: jacqueline: I’m sick of being Hearts of Oak. gerald: Hearts of Oak? jacqueline: Yes – broke.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 27: It left me ’earts-of-oak.
a.1945		L. Payne private coll. n.p.: Broke Hearts of Oak.
1957		G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 60: ‘So it’s ’earts-of-oak, is it?’ ‘Broke is the word.’.
1960		J. Franklyn Dict. of Rhy. Sl.
1971		J. Jones Rhy. Cockney Sl.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 187: Hearts (of oak) Penniless (broke): ‘Coming down to Brighton for the races?’; reply, ‘What’s the point, we are all hearts’.
1985		Wheeler & Broadhead Upper Class Rhy. Sl. 43: I’m hearts of oak now.
2002		B. Kirkpatrick Wicked Cockney Rhy. Sl.