Frank Cheshire

Frank Cheshire (1896–1987) was an Australian bookseller and publisher. His bookshop in Little Collins Street, Melbourne was described as a "gathering place for all interested in books and literature" in the mid-twentieth century. His publishing firm, F. W. Cheshire Pty. Ltd. published school textbooks and dominated that market in the state of Victoria for many years. It "began a new era in publishing" when it published Australian text books for Australian schools instead of importing them from Britain. The firm also published a number of general trade bestsellers such as Alan Marshall's I Can Jump Puddles, Robin Boyd's The Australian Ugliness and Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock and "gave many Australian writers their first start". which over the years would become a "cultural landmark". The firm's first publication was Wilfred Burchett's Pacific Treasure Island: New Caledonia. In 1944 Cheshire published Alan Marshall's These Are My People, "stories [Marshall] collected while travelling with his wife Olive in a horse-drawn caravan through Victoria" and which sold 9,000 copies in the first month. Cheshire would later publish several more of Marshall's books including "best-known, autobiographical work" including Robin Boyd's The Australian Ugliness (1960), Sir Frederic Eggleston's Reflections of an Australian Liberal (1952–53) and Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967).

In his publishing programme he placed an emphasis on "the arts, history, biography... and the social sciences",

Meanwhile the bookselling enterprise continued to expand with new locations in Little Bourke Street and La Trobe Street, Melbourne and a warehouse in the suburb of Abbotsford. Its reliable service and rising reputation led to it "monopolising the school market" for a price of "nearly $2 million", However, in 1975 at an event marking 50 years of publishing by the Cheshires, he remarked that he was "entirely in favor of censorship" and that "there are things that happen in private that should be left in private". in the Melbourne suburb of Burwood which looked after neglected children. That home is now known as BestChance, is "one of Victoria's most respected children's services" and operates the Cheshire School, which has been named in Frank's memory. In 2015 it was announced that "[Jean] and her husband Frank's contribution to the Cheshire School" would be "honoured in an appropriate memorial".

In 1983 Frank and his wife Jean were appointed knight and dame of the Sovereign Order of St John Jerusalem Knights Hospitaller.

Personal life Frank Cheshire was described in his obituary in The Age as "a gentle man who made up his mind quickly and always kept his word". A "non-smoker, a teetotaller and a devoted father", he was deeply religious and by nature a conservative.

On 20 November 1920 he married Vera Mabel Worth whom he had met through his church activities. Vera died in 1955. Cheshire married Shirley Jean Moyes, née Mackay, in 1956.

He died on 19 November 1987 at Balwyn, Victoria. He was survived by Jean and their three sons, and by two sons of his first marriage.