Before Alarm Clocks, There Was A Profession Called A “Knocker Up“

Many old and honorable occupations that no longer exist have their origins deeply rooted in history when people worked many varying trades. Some of these professions are not what historians might consider to be mainstream work, but over the years, these various lines of work have provided interesting stories that can be passed down to future generations.

Even before the days of alarm clocks, people still needed to get to work on time. A knocker-up, sometimes known as a knocker-upper, was a profession in Britain and Ireland that started during and lasted well into the Industrial Revolution and at least as late as the 1920s.

A knocker-up is a person whose job was to go from house to house in the early morning and wake up workers by tapping on the bedroom window. They used a truncheon or short, heavy stick to knock on the clients’ doors or a long and light stick, often made of bamboo, to reach windows on higher floors. At least one of them used a pea-shooter. In return, the knocker-up would be paid. Most knocker-ups were paid weekly and these weekly fees were reasonable and usually based on how far the knocker-up had to travel and the time of day the person needed to be awakened. Generally, the job was carried out by elderly men and women, but sometimes police constables supplemented their pay by performing the task during early morning patrols.