Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a fool; often also a drunkard.

1837		R.B. Peake A Quarter to Nine Act II: What a Sammy, give me a shilling more than I axed him, he! he!
1854		Leics. Jrnl 21 Apr. 3/6: The character of ‘Sammy Soft’ [...] whose rags and crownless hat powerfully argued what the drinking custom had donme for him.
1870		Huddersfield Chron. 19 Mar. 8/3: ‘Merry’ the teetotaller, and ‘Sammy Soft,’ the drunkard, met with unqualified approval.
1878		Buckingham Advertiser 27 July 4/1: The Clowns are Coming! [...] The Original ‘Sammy Soft’ In Green.
1886		Eve. News (Sydney) 27 Apr. 7/4: [I]f he had gone into Castlereagh-street he could have collared the cigars, but he did not, the Sammy. (Laughter.) .
1896		G.F. Northall Warwickshire Word-Bk 198: Sammy/Sammy Soft. A fool, simpleton.
1897		F.T. Jane Lordship Passen and We 165: Simple Sammy, as we called Mr. Pote, the new pastor [EDD].
1980		Barltrop & Wolveridge Muvver Tongue 71: ‘Sam’ was equated with a soft-minded person: ‘you must think I’m a Sammy’ [...] or ‘I’m not going to be a Sammy for you’.
1991		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 8: sammy – stupid-looking person. Don’t be such a sammy – you look ridiculous.