What grammar pattern is used here and what does it mean?

Question

This excerpt is from The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. I can't figure out the italicized part. The excerpt follows:

"But they take long enough to get well, don't they? ... There was my sister's son, Tom, jest cut his arm with a scythe, tumbled on it in the 'ayfield, and, bless me! he was three months tied up sir. You'd hardly believe it. It's regular given me a dread of a scythe, sir."

"I can quite understand that," said the visitor.

"He was afraid, one time, that he'd have to have an op'ration—he was that bad, sir."

The visitor laughed abruptly, a bark of a laugh that he seemed to bite and kill in his mouth. "Was he?" he said.

"He was, sir. And no laughing matter to them as had the doing for him, as I had—my sister being took up with her little ones so much. There was bandages to do, sir, and bandages to undo. So that if I may make so bold as to say it, sir—"

"Will you get me some matches?" said the visitor, quite abruptly. "My pipe is out."

Answer 1

And no laughing matter to them as had the doing for him, as I had—my sister being took up with her little ones so much

There may well be a better 'translation' or gloss but this is the gist of the sentence:

And it was no laughing matter for those of us who had all the looking after him to do, like I had - what with my sister being so wrapped up in looking after the kids.

Here's a kind of step by step gloss:

And [it was] no laughing matter for those [/them] who had the doing [all his stuff] for him [to do], like I had [to] - with my sister being taken [/took] up with her children [little ones] so much.

The section them as had the doing for him is a type of relative clause. In modern standard English, we prefer not to have an accusative pronoun like them as an antecedent for a relative clause - hence those in the modern gloss above. The relative clause is fronted by as instead of a modern subordinator such as that or a relative pronoun such as who.