Clarence Henry Willcock

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Clarence Henry Willcock was a member of the Liberal Party and the last person in the UK to be prosecuted for refusing to carry an Identity Card.

On 7 December 1950, the 54 year old dry-cleaning manager from Finchley was stopped while driving in London by police constable Harold Muckle who demanded that he present his Identity Card at a police station within 48 hours. He refused, reputedly saying “I am a Liberal and I am against this sort of thing”. He was prosecuted, convicted and fined 10 shillings.

Willcock appealed, in the case Willcock vs Muckle. Although he lost the appeal, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Rayner Goddard, Baron Goddard, spoke out against the continued use of compulsory Identity Cards and commented that they "tend to make people resentful of the acts of the police".

Goddard's comments are thought to have influenced Winston Churchill's decision to scrap compulsory national Identity Cards in 1952.