Knock Knock...Time to Wake Up
Before alarm clocks were common—and long before doorbells buzzed or chimed—there were knocker uppers. In 19th and early 20th century Britain and Ireland, people actually paid someone to come by and wake them up in the morning.
These human alarm clocks would walk the streets in the early hours, tapping on bedroom windows with long poles or canes. Some carried batons, others used long fishing rods, and one especially famous knocker upper named Mary Smith used a pea shooter to lightly ping the glass so as not to wake the whole household.
It may sound charming now, but this was serious work—especially in towns where factory workers had to be up at the crack of dawn. Knocker uppers were paid just a few pence per week and often served dozens of homes each morning.
Their job eventually faded away as alarm clocks became more affordable, but their role in helping entire communities stay on time is a quirky and fascinating bit of history.
Makes you wonder what tasks we rely on today that
might seem downright odd a hundred years from now.
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