cheek in this sense is attested as both a verb and a noun from 1840:

n., colloq. a. Insolence in speaking to any one; ‘jaw’. Phr. to give cheek: = cheek v.

v., colloq. To address ‘cheekily’ or saucily; to speak with cool impudence to, confront audaciously. to cheek it: to face it out, ‘carry it through’.

cheeks, as in buttocks, also seems to have originated in Britain around 1600.