In the UK there was a profession “Man-Budge”
Surely most of us wake up in the morning to the sounds of our alarm clock and it is difficult for us to imagine our life without this device.
In the era of industrialization in England and Ireland, the alarm clocks were not yet so affordable, although people had to get up to work in a job. And if in the village, they say, a rooster could help, then in the city there were difficulties.
A man helped a man by profession Knocker-Up. His task was as follows: walking early in the morning and knock on the windows of his customers until he is convinced that the client is awake.
As a rule, they used a short stick to knock on the door or long to get to the window (often from bamboo, sometimes with a solid tan). Particularly resourceful, such as depicted in the photo of Mary Smith, were armed with a hollow tube and dry peas. The subscription for such a service was worth a few pence per week.
Typically, older people, women, sometimes paid a constel, who woke up workers during the morning patrol. Clients either told the “informers” about the time of the wolf in advance, or reported some signs on the window, doors. It happened that Knocker-Up hired large factories and factories so that labor did not oversleep its next labor feat. Probably, today the employer would call it – a social package.
Author: Adr4_2