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Knocker uppers: Waking up the workers in industrial Britain (2016)
As the clocks go forward for the start of British Summer Time, many of us will rue the loss of an hour in bed. But how did people get to work on time before alarm clocks?
The "knocker upper" was a common sight in Britain, particularly in the northern mill towns, where people worked shifts, or in London where dockers kept unusual hours, ruled as they were by the inconstant tides. The solution they hit on was modifying a long stick, with which to tap on the bedrooms windows of their clients, loudly enough to rouse those intended but softly enough not to disturb the rest. Robert Paul, the man who discovered the body of the Ripper's first victim - Mary Nichols, described how the policeman he informed saw no reason to let it detain him from his knocking up duties, Mr Jones says.
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