The Victorian Era alarm-clocks

Most of us wake up in the morning the same way- setting the alarm, the normal person immediately falls asleep and wakes up from the repeated signaling. Simple, 100% reliable. But how the hell did anybody ever wake up on time before they were invented?
The answer is simple: there was a special profession for this, and in English-speaking countries it was called a “knocker-up” or, roughly speaking, a "wake-up caller". The life of the "knocker-up" was devoted to the simplest thing: they had to wake people up in the morning, walking through the city and tapping into their windows and doors. But, naturally, in this business soon nuances found their way and unique styles appeared, like in some kung fu.

The profession originated at the dawn of the industrial era and lasted until the 70s of the XX century. Imagine: The Sex Pistols were already playing on stage, and the good old "wake-up callers" still raised proletarians in eastern London in the mornings.
Why was it so important? At one time simple workers of manufactories and factories could not afford alarm clocks as bourgeois, neither could they afford to wake up a little late in the morning. The solution was "knocker-up" people, who were paid to wake others up on time, so they don’t to get a severe fine for being late for work.
As is always the case, where there is competition, from simple folks with sticks, "knocker-ups" turned into masters of their craft and even clans and styles of craft began to emerge. Regular "knocker-ups" took the sticks in their hands and tap them at the windows of the customers, but the privileged ones sported in cylinders and jackets and offered only an elite noise and clatter.

The houses were getting higher, the work- more sophisticated. Some began to use fishing rods, others guessed to take with themselves bamboo sticks. The legendary Mary Smith (yes they had their legends!) from the dynasty of the Smiths (yes, they had their dynasties!) used pea-shooter. They say she could easily get into the right window on the third and even fourth floors.

Some of them could make agreement with the whole area. Then the happy "knocker" could just walk with a rattle in his hands and yell like a crazy - customers were satisfied.
The high class was considered to tap the stick (or shoot through pea-shooter) at the windows to wake up specifically those who paid by no means to wake up those who was too greedy a modest fee to a simple street worker. "Knockers" used the hidden labels or ringlets on the doors, which allowed them to understand who was the customer, and who – wasn’t.
The profession finally died when alarm clocks could afford even the most destitute families from the most god-forsaken slums. The era of people who had risen before dawn and tapped the sticks at the windows and doors was gone.
The last question remains: how did the knockers wake up themselves? The answer is simple, but it does not help a modern person. There were elderly people with insomnia or simply those who had serious sleeping disorders. In addition to them there was a whole class of those who were brought up in the family of "knocker-ups" and did not know another life or regime of the day from the very childhood.

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