A knocker Upper waking up a client, Manchester, UK c.1912 (photo)

A knocker-up (sometimes known as a knocker-upper/knocker uppers) 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 before alarm clocks were affordable or reliable. A knocker-up's job was to rouse sleeping people so they could get to work on time. Although often using a truncheon or a long piece of bamboo,at least one of them used a pea-shooter. In return, the knocker-up would be paid a few pence a week. The knocker-up would not leave a client's window until they were sure that the client had been awoken;