Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a street singer who performs without benefit of a lyric sheet.

1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1882		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 4 Aug. 7/3: A gang of ‘griddlers,’ consisting of five men and two women, came and asked for ‘room’.
1896		M. Williams Round London 41: ‘A griddler?’ said the sergeant. ‘Don’t you know that, sir? Why, he’s a chanter – one of them as gets a living by singing in the streets. They never have any fixed home. They go about all day and sleep together in gangs.’.
1906		O.C. Malvery Soul Market 34: The street singers are called ‘griddlers,’ or ‘needy griddlers.’.
1909		‘The Lang. of Crooks’ in Wash. Post 20 June 4/1: [paraphrasing J. Sullivan] A griddler is an English street singer.
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 219: They are hired out to street-singers – ‘griddlers’ is the technical term.
1926		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 23 Mar. 3/4: A down-and-outer [...] earned the price of his night’s lodgings as a ‘griddler’.
1935		X. Petulengro Romany Life 239: You hardly ever hear a griddler sing a lively song.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 5: Griddler: Street singer.
1956		F.O. Beck Hobohemia 25: Some of his associates are ‘griddlers,’ getting their living by singing in the streets.

2. a wandering tinker, a gypsy tramp.

1935

X. Petulengro Romany Life 238: The moocher is always a gorgio-bred tramp. He is [...] the slum-dweller of the road. The griddler is another.