Butler-Sloss, Elizabeth (Oldfield) (1933– )

English judge. After chairing the Cleveland Sex Abuse Inquiry (1987–88), she became the first woman lord justice of appeal. She was a divorce registrar from 1970 until her appointment in 1979 to the Family Division of the High Court, and was made DBE in the same year.

Born at Kew Gardens, Richmond, Surrey, the daughter of Cecil Havers QC, a High Court judge, she was educated at Wycombe Abbey School and wanted to study law from an early age. Called to the Bar in 1955, she practised there for 15 years. In 1959 she contested the Conservative seat at Lambeth, but without success.