Alfred Edward Robie Farmer Cheatle was born in Kingsbury, Warwickshire, England on 15 January 1871. Nothing is known about his training as an architect. In c.1891, with Thomas Walter Francis Newton (1862-1903), he formed the architectural partnership Newton & Cheatle.
The practice had offices at 125-131 Newhall Street, Birmingham. They designed a wide range of industrial, commercial and domestic properties, mainly in the Birmingham area. The influence of the Arts and Crafts movement is discernible in much of the practice's work.
Following the death of Newton in 1903, Cheatle continued the practice. In 1927 he was joined by Charles Stanbury Madeley (1887-1962). He remained in practice as an architect until at least 1939.
Cheatle's address was given as Four Oaks House, Walsall Road, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire in 1911; 65 Belwell Lane, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire in 1939; and Chalford, Belwell Lane, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire in 1941. He died in Wylde Green, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire on 29 November 1941.
Factory, 62-63 Hampton Street, Birmingham for John Sarsons Walford, cock maker (1897); Eagle Works, 31 Green Street and Alcester Street, Deritend, Birmingham for Sarsons & Butt, brassfounders (1897); Printing Works, 45-47 Church Street, Birmingham for Buckler & Webb, printers and bookbinders (1898); The Fighting Cocks public house, Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham for Holt Brewery (1898); City Arcades, Union Street, Birmingham (1898-1901); Business premises, 121-123 Edmund Street, Birmingham for Innes, Smith & Co. wine and spirits merchants (1899); Factory, Water Street and Constitution Hill, Birmingham for Barker Bros., silversmiths (1900-01); Offices and warehouse, 37 Church Street, Birmingham for H. B. Perry & Co., export hardware merchants (1901); and The Horse and Jockey public house, Inkford Brook, Alcester Road, Birmingham (1912).
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See also: List of Principal Architectural Works of Newton and Cheatle in Rathbone, Niki and Bassindale, John. ‘Newton & Cheatle’ pp. 493-497 [Bibliography below]
Rathbone, Niki and Bassindale, John. ‘Newton & Cheatle’ in Birmingham's Victorian and Edwardian Architects, edited by Phillada Ballard. Wetherby: Oblong Creative Ltd. for the Birmingham and West Midlands Group of the Victorian Society, 2009, pp. 479-498
Thornton, Roy. Victorian Buildings of Birmingham. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Ltd., 2006 Chapter 3. The Comore Estate. Newton & Cheatle pp. 18-24.