Geoffrey Chevalier Cheshire (27 June 1886 – 27 October 1978) was a British

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and legal scholar. He was the father of

Leonard Cheshire Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, (7 September 1917 – 31 July 1992) was a British Royal Air Force pilot, officer and philanthropist. Cheshire fought in the Second World War. Among the decorations Cheshire received as a pilot w ...

, the British war hero and founder of the Cheshire Foundation Homes for the Sick.

Biography

Born in 1886 to Walter Christopher Cheshire, of

Northwich Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane, east of Chester, south of Warrington and south of Ma ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

(also Registrar of Northwich County Court) and Major (Honorary Lieutenant Colonel) of the 3rd Volunteer Battalion,

Cheshire Regiment The Cheshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The 22nd Regiment of Foot was raised by the Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk in 1689 and was able to boast an independent existence ...

,The London Gazette, 13 December 1892, pg 7287 and Clara (née Cook), he was educated at Denstone College and

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

, from which he obtained a first class honours degree in

Jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

in 1908. He received a Lectureship in Law at the

University College of Wales, Aberystwyth Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...

, working for Professor T.A. Levi, but returned to Oxford in 1911, where he was elected to a fellowship in law at Exeter College in 1912. He served in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, 1914–19, with 2/6 Battalion Cheshire Regiment and the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

: he retired with the rank of captain. He became a

(

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

) in 1922 and, in the same year took on the additional office of All Souls' Lecturer in Private International Law. He was All Souls reader in English Law, from 1933, and a fellow of

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

, from 1944 to 1949. In 1944 he was elected

Vinerian Professor of English Law The Vinerian Professorship of English Law, formerly Vinerian Professorship of Common Law, was established by Charles Viner, who by his will, dated 29 December 1755, left about £12,000 to the chancellor, masters and scholars of the University ...

and there followed a succession of other honours: honorary

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher c ...

of Lincoln's Inn (1944); honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (1945); honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford; honorary LLD London and Manchester; and

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

. He married Burella Primrose Eleanor Barstow, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Anderson Adam Barstow, on 6 February 1915. They had two children: (Geoffrey) Leonard Cheshire and Christopher Cheshire, who was also a wartime pilot. In 1963, a year after the death of his first wife, Geoffrey Cheshire married Dame Mary Lloyd (1902–1972), daughter of A.J. Lloyd, and a former director of the WRNS. Geoffrey Cheshire outlived his second wife as well, and died in 1978, aged 92.

Contribution to Law

Geoffrey Cheshire's obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' described him as "the first academic lawyer to tackle the great reforms in the law of property associated with the name of Lord Birkenhead", and his first book, ''Modern Law of Real Property'', published initially in 1925, became the standard text on the subject. This work has remained in print ever since and, updated by Burn and Cartwright, is now in its 17th edition. (Modern Law of Real Property, E.H. Burn & J.H.Cartwright, O.U.P. 18th Ed. 2011). Generations of students have also studied "The Law of Contract", first written in conjunction with the legal historian C. H. S. Fifoot in 1945, and in its 15th Edition (Law of Contract, Cheshire, Fifoot and Furmston, O.U.P., 17th Ed. 2017).

Works

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References

* * ''

'', 28 October 1978, Obituary: Professor G.C. Cheshire—Influential writer on the law {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheshire, Geoffrey Chevalier 1886 births 1978 deaths Military personnel from Cheshire Cheshire Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War I People educated at Denstone College Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford People from Northwich Fellows of the British Academy Royal Flying Corps officers Members of Lincoln's Inn English barristers English legal scholars Vinerian Professors of English Law Place of death missing 20th-century English lawyers