Green’s Dictionary of Slang

‘a common phrase used to irritate Irishmen’ (Hotten, 1864).

1850		Fast Man 10:1 n.p.: ‘The Man who Struck Buckley’ will hear of a situation if he applies at the ‘Paddy’s Goose,’ Ratcliffe-highway. A good hand at bullying will always get an engagement from the proprietor.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict. 99: The story is that an Englishman having struck an Irishman named Buckley, the latter made a great outcry, and one of his friends rushed forth screaming, ‘Who struck Buckley?’ ‘I did,’ said the Englishman, preparing for an apparently inevitable combat. ‘Then,’ said the ferocious Hibernian, after a careful investigation of the other’s thews and sinews, ‘then, sarve him right.’.
1886		Broken-Hearted Shearer’ in Burrowa News (NSW) 1 Jan. 4: ‘Sold again and got the money,’ ‘Who struck Buckley such a rap!’ / She had all the slang and flash talk that was going round the town.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 30: ‘Who struck Buckley?’ is a phrase equivalent to ‘What’s up? What’s the matter?’.