Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a nickname for an ugly person, whose face supposedly resembles a pugdog.

1837		Sligo Champion 6 May 4/4: If we were all like old Pugnose, as lazy and as ugly [etc.].
1848		Morn. Post (London) 13 Apr. 4/3: Almost every slang name [...] such as Snooks, and Pugnose, and other nicknames, feature in numbers.
1852		Northampton Mercury 11 Sept. 3/3: Fickle Robert deserted Lucy, and went back to the aspiring pug-nose.
1877		Sheffield Daily Tel. 6 Nov. 7/6: He asked for ‘little pugnose,’ prosecutrix’s sister [...] as he had come for the purpose of killing her.
1887		Manchester Eve. News 5 Mar. 4/2: We have a bully time when Pug-nose Lane and speckly-faced Smith and Cross-eyed green and [etc.].