Wednesday, June 26, 2019

THE KNOCKER UP COMETH

A  GLIMPSE OF EARLY INDUSTRIAL TIMES
To make sure wage slaves   got up in  time to  work in  the huge  textile mills of Britain  and  on  the London docks ,  men employed  as  Knocker  Ups  went about with  long  poles  tapping  on   windows  and doors .
These  postcards  , from a special  North Queensland collection , illustrate the important part played  by  the    Knocker Up   in Britain and  Ireland during the  early days of the  industrial  revolution , right up to the  l920s.

In  those  times  alarm clocks  were expensive and   not  reliable , so workers with unusual hours , shifts ,   needed some  way of being woken up  in time to  get to the mill or the  dock.

Using a  long  wooden pole  or  a   length of bamboo, the Knocker Up would  tap on doors and  windows  until  there was a  response from  inside  .  One  enterprising upper is said to have used  a  peashooter .  Another device used  to  wake  people was  a  "snuffer outer ", used  to  put out  street  gas lamps .

 Charles Dickens mentioned  a Knocker Up in  his novel Great Expectations .