Hi there, while you wait for new answers, this section of our FAQ may be of interest to you.

In Victorian Britain and Ireland, 'knocker-uppers' knocked on windows with a long stick to wake up factory workers. This continued well into living memory. Here are a couple of primary sources from the 1940s showing knocker-uppers doing their rounds: http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/parkers-mill-bingley https://vimeo.com/album/3066233/video/108109027