Clarence Henry Willcock

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

On 7 December 1950, Harry Willcock, 54 year old dry-cleaning manager was stopped while driving in Finchley, 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 under the National Registration Act 1939, 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, Lord 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".

Willcock was the Liberal candidate in Barnet in 1945 and 1950 and had been a councillor and magistrate in Horsforth, Leeds.

Wilcock was born in Alverthorpe, Yorkshire in 1896 and died, while debating at the National Liberal Club, in December 1952

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

[edit] See also

• British national identity card
• Identity document

[edit] External links

• The Guardian, May 30, 2003