Geoffrey Cheshire
Geoffrey Chevalier Cheshire FBA (27 June 1886 – 27 October 1978) was a British barrister and legal scholar. He wrote Modern Law of Real Property, a foundational text in property law, and co-authored The Law of Contract with C. H. S. Fifoot.
Born in Northwich, Cheshire, to Walter Cheshire, a solicitor and local official, and Clara Cook, he studied at Denstone College and Merton College, Oxford, earning first‑class honours in Jurisprudence in 1908. He taught law at Aberystwyth before returning to Oxford as a fellow at Exeter College in 1912. He served in World War I with the Cheshire Regiment and the Royal Flying Corps, retiring as a captain.
In 1922 Cheshire qualified as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn and became All Souls' Lecturer in Private International Law. He was All Souls reader in English Law from 1933 and a fellow of All Souls College (1944–1949). He was appointed the Vinerian Professor of English Law in 1944 and received many honours, including honorary fellowships at several colleges and membership in the British Academy.
Cheshire married Burella Primrose Eleanor Barstow in 1915; they had two sons, including Leonard Cheshire, the war hero who founded the Cheshire Foundation Homes for the Sick, and Christopher Cheshire, who was also a wartime pilot. After Burella's death in 1962, he married Dame Mary Lloyd in 1963; she died in 1972. Geoffrey Cheshire died in 1978 at age 92.
His obituary in The Times called him the first academic lawyer to tackle major property-law reforms linked to Lord Birkenhead. Modern Law of Real Property, first published in 1925, became the standard text and remains influential, with editions updated by others. The Law of Contract, co-authored with Fifoot, has seen many editions and remains widely used.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:36 (CET).