Before smartphones and alarms, in the 1920s it fell to just one Nottingham man to wake people up in time for the daily grind. Using either a pea-shooter or a stick, 68-year-old Arthur Robinson was officially the city’s sole professional ‘knocker-upper’.
His choice of ‘weapon’ would vary depending on the circumstances, either using a short, heavy baton or a very long and light stick, often made of bamboo, to reach windows on the higher floors. The ‘shooter’ was often just a rubber hose loaded with dried peas.
According to the 1921 census, courtesy of findmypast, Arthur lived with his four grandchildren and a housekeeper in North Street (long since vanished and now known as Haywood Court) in the east of the city. He is the only knocker-upper listed on the census, but there may have been others who perhaps didn't fill in the form correctly, if at all.
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