This information is from Wikipedia, but I don't think England was included in the countries whereby a passport was not needed.

In 1944, the governments-in-exile of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg (Benelux) signed an agreement to eliminate border controls between themselves; this agreement was put into force in 1948.

Similarly, the Nordic Passport Union was created in 1952 to permit free travel amongst the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and some of their associated territories.