Ah, the sounds of morning …
Birds singing,
Photo by Brian Robert Marshall via Wikimedia Commons
tea kettle pouring,
Photo by Patrick George via Wikimedia Commons
and the pelting of peas upon windowpanes.
Photo by Parvathisri via Wikimedia Commons
Curious?
I thought you might be.
Pea pelting was the work of “knocker ups” in England and Ireland before alarm clocks put an end to the profession.
Note, gentle reader, that “knocking up” bore no resemblance to our modern slang terminology (ahem).
In fact, it was a valued service generally provided by elderly women and men, and occasionally undertaken by police constables looking to pad their paychecks during early-morning patrols.
Each morning, the knocker up was charged with rousing sleeping people so they could get to work on time. She would use a heavy stick called a truncheon to knock on clients’ first-floor doors. For residents above arm’s reach, the knocker up would wield a long stick, often made of bamboo, to tap upper-story windows.
Image courtesy of Au Bout de la Route blog
Some of the more adventurous knocker ups, like Mary Smith of London’s Brenton Street (shown below), employed pea shooters to hurl dried peas at windows until the sleeper within woke up.
Image courtesy of Basilica Fields blog
In return for their services, knocker-ups were paid a few pence a week.
Now you know!
Hahahahaha!! Who would have guessed these old forms of alarm clocks? I love that photo of the pea shooter. What a hoot!
The photos are adorable! I’d heard of the knockers-uppers, but not pea shooter ones!
I did not know that! Very nice!
Nice to know others love words, too!
OK, who remembers playing with pea shooters as a child ? and spit balls? Boy I bet the cops would be called in these days if you played with them now. Definitely a great way to be awakened, instead of an alarm clock. I am so lucky , with my own business, working from my farmette, I haven’t used an alarm clock at all except for maybe once a year to get to my Doctor’s appointment. Yep, that’s the way to do it.
Never heard of this before! Very interesting!
Have read about “knockers-up” but loved the photos! Lisa is so right when she says that peashooters today would not be acceptable!