How did people wake up before alarm clocks?

In the 19th century, factory workers turned to their local knocker upper for a wake-up call.

The knocker upper appeared at a reliable time to rap on the window and wake up workers. Some even carried a clock on their rounds.

Many of us start the morning the same way: rolling out of bed to the sound of an alarm clock. Or, for some, hitting snooze on the alarm clock. But how did people wake up before alarm clocks?

Alarm clocks were rare before the 20th century. Pre-industrial farmers counted on roosters or sunrise to wake them up. But what about the industrial workers of the 19th century? How did they show up on time for their shifts at the factory? 

Enter the knocker upper––a Victorian solution for urban early risers.

What is a Knocker Upper?

Wealthy Victorians could sleep in––or count on their servants to wake them. Some bought expensive mechanical clocks with adjustable pins to trigger an alarm. But early alarm clocks weren’t always reliable, and they were outside the budget of working-class people.

Instead of alarm clocks, many factory workers relied on “knocker uppers” to wake up. What’s a knocker upper? Essentially a human alarm clock, a knocker upper would show up outside your window and tap on it to wake you up.

Alarm clocks were expensive, rare, and unreliable.

Knocker uppers carried sticks to rap on doors and windows. For higher floors, they might deploy a long bamboo stick. After a few loud raps, the knocker upper would move on to their next client. 

The Knocker Up Job

Factories, mines, and mills often required 14-hour shifts in the 1800s. So it’s not surprising Industrial towns like Manchester and London helped fuel the trend for knocker uppers. 

Outside of industrial centers, miners would also write their hours in chalk outside their homes so knocker uppers could rouse them. The chalkboards were called “knocky-up boards” or “wake-up slates.”

“When knocking up began to be a regular trade, we used to rap or ring at the doors of our customers,” explained an English knocker upper named Mrs. Waters to a reporter in 1878.

Long sticks, often made from bamboo, helped knocker uppers reach higher windows.

“The public complained of being disturbed,” Waters related, “by our loud rapping or ringing; and the knocker-up soon found out that while he knocked up one who paid him, he knocked up several on each side who did not.”

Knocker uppers came up with creative solutions to reach high windows without disturbing the peace. One London knocker upper named Mary Smith carried a pea shooter––a tube to shoot dried peas at windows. 

Mary Smith, Queen Knocker Upper

Many knocker uppers were women. In Dorset, Granny Cousins woke brewery workers for decades. Mrs. Bowers walked the streets of her village in County Durham every morning with her dog Jack while waking miners. And Mrs. Waters roused 95 homes every morning before running a shop. 

In London, Mary Smith was queen of the knocker uppers. Smith worked in London’s East End in the 1930s.

In London, Mary Smith used her pea shooter to wake up clients.

“Every morning but Sunday she would rise at three to ‘knock up’ local workers—using a pea shooter,” said photographer John Topham, “She charged sixpence a week and her nearest competition was an old man three miles away who did the same job using a fishing rod to tap on upstairs windows.”

Mary Smith turned the job into a family tradition––her daughter Molly Moore was also a knocker upper. A children’s book even celebrated Smith’s career.

A 2003 book celebrated Mary Smith’s unique occupation.

The End of the Knocker Upper

When alarm clocks became cheaper and more reliable, some preferred to stick with the knocker uppers. The practice continued well into the 20th century, in spite of The Guardian warning in 1914 that “the cheap American clock” was “killing the industry.”

Who woke up the knocker upper? One 19th-century tongue twister offered a theory:

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.
Into the 20th century, knocker uppers reliably walked their routes. But the end was near.

But even the knocker uppers could see the end coming. William Crompton woke factory workers in the Manchester area for over 50 years––and used an alarm clock to wake up in time for work. 

Soon, alarm clocks had replaced the last knocker uppers. As for the snooze button, it didn’t appear until after World War II. And today, more than 80% of Americans use smartphones as an alarm clock. 


For more strange and fascinating stories from history, check out Bruce Wilson’s book Strange but True Stories: Fascinating Facts, Astonishing Trivia, and Conversation Starters from History, available in ebook, paperback, or audiobook.

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