Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a vagrant, a tramp.

1887		‘’Arry on the Jubilee’ in Punch 25 Jun. 305/1: That there Dook of Westminster dodge / Of candle-ends stuck in the winders is like that close-fisted old codge.
1901		Monroe & Northup ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:iii 138: codge, n. Like codger [...] but less definite; of any shiftless, worthless person.