What was a "knocker upper?"

Up until the 1970's, a "knocker upper" was a person paid to wake up people for work. They were like a human alarm clock. They would carry long poles, sticks, hammers, and even pea shooters to tap on windows, especially second floor flats, to wake a person for work. The "knocker upper" was common in Britain, especially in mill towns where employers paid the knocker to waken the employees of the mill for work.

A tongue twisting poem spoke of the problem: "who woke the knocker uppers?"

We had a knocker-up, and our knocker-up had a knocker-up

And our knocker-up's knocker-up didn't knock our knocker up

So our knocker-up didn't knock us up

'Cos he's not up.

In reality, the knocker uppers stayed up all night, and slept during the day.

Several authors made reference to the profession such as Charles Dickens, and Robert Paul, the person who found Jack the Ripper's first victim was a knocker upper.

With the invention of the alarm clock, the profession of knocker upper has faded into history.