Henry Arthur Cheers was born in Chester, Cheshire, England in 1853 and was articled to Thomas Denville Barry (1815?-1905) of T. D. Barry & Sons in Liverpool from 1872 to 1875. He then worked as an assistant to Thomas Waring (1825-1891) in Cardiff, Wales from 1875 to 1877 and to an architect [name not known] in Leeds from 1877 to 1879.
Cheers commenced independent practice in Leeds in 1879. He relocated to Liverpool in 1880 where he worked until 1882 when he moved his practice to Twickenham, Middlesex.
Between the 1890s and at least 1909 Cheers was in partnership with Joseph Smith (c.1862-?). It is unclear if this was a formal partnership. They appear to have had an office at 24 Richmond Terrace, Blackburn, Lancashire, where Smith was based, and in Twickenham, Middlesex, where Cheers had an office. In 1909 they won a competition to design Colchester Technical Institute. Their designs are illustrated in British Competitions in Architecture vol. 2, no. 22, June 1909 (pp. 329-332). There is no evidence that the Institute was built.
Cheers was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1911. He died in Paddington, London on 14 January 1916. At the time of his death his address was given as 73 Philbeach Gardens, Kensington, London
Work by Cheers included a clock tower for Margate, Kent to mark Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee (1889); 35 Waldegrave Park, Twickenham, his own house (1892); West Hartlepool Town Hall (1893); Oswestry Town Hall (1893); West Hartlepool Town Hall (1893); Harlow Manor Hydro Hotel, Harrogate (1893); Christ Church, New Malden (1893); Hull Northern Library (1895); Halifax Public Hall, with Smith (1896); Preston Technical School (1897); the Grammar School in Earls Colne in Essex (1897); East Ham Town Hall, with Smith (1903); Hereford Town Hall (1904); Chorley Training College (1905); St Stephen's, Blackburn (1906); Teddington Carnegie Library (1906); Clarksfield Board School, Oldham (1908); and Registry Office at Barnet (1913)
An entry by Cheers in a competition to design Lambeth Municipal Buildings is illustrated in British Competitions in Architecture vol. 1, no. 1, January 1905 (p. 39).
Cunningham, Colin. Victorian and Edwardian Town Halls. London: Routledge, Kegan & Paul, 1981
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001