An anti-war '50s verse (The Weavers?)was

       The general he's a dodger, yes, a well-known dodger,
       The general he's a dodger, and I'm a dodger too.
       He'll march you up and march you down,
       Look out, boys, he'll march you underground!
       And we're all a-dodgin' [etc.]

And, Q! What makes you sure that Cowell's dialect is "fake"? Even in the '20s, at least one of the old salts recorded by James M. Carpenter in London still pronounced "w" as "v," in the manner indicated by Cowell and Dickens.