Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Pigling Bland (1913) is a story about two anthropomorphic pigs (Pigling Bland and his brother Alexander) who are sent to walk themselves to market because their mother can no longer afford to feed them. As the pigs are sent off, the narrator (presumably Beatrix Potter) says:

"Here are two licences permitting two pigs to go to market in Lancashire...I have had no end of trouble in getting these papers from the policeman."

They run into a police officer who asks for their licenses. Pigling Bland's brother has misplaced his, so the police officer takes him back to the farm:

"Where are your licences?" said the policeman... Alexander’s nose lengthened visibly, he had lost it. "I had one, indeed I had, Mr. Policeman!"

"It's not likely they let you start without. I am passing the farm. You may walk with me." "Can I come back too?" inquired Pigling Bland. "I see no reason, young Sir; your paper is all right."

Finally when Pigling Bland helps another pig escape from captivity, they are stopped by a human on the road who demands to see their licences and is suspicious that the name on one of the licences does not match the gender.

In many of Potter's stories animals are allegorical for lower class humans. Would humans have needed licences like these to travel within England at some point? Or are the licences themselves allegorical, or just a useful plot device?