{{Short description|British politician (1939–1993)}} {{Use British English|date=November 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Judith Chaplin | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} | image = Judith Chaplain.jpg | caption = | office = Member of Parliament<br />for Newbury | term_start = 9 April 1992 | term_end = 19 February 1993 | predecessor = Michael McNair-Wilson | successor = David Rendel | office1 = Political Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | prime_minister1 = John Major | term_start1 = 1990 | term_end1 = 1992 | predecessor1 = John Whittingdale | successor1 = Jonathan Hill | birth_name = Sybil Judith Schofield | birth_date = {{birth date|1939|8|19|df=yes}} | birth_place = Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1993|2|19|1939|8|19|df=y}} | death_place = Paddington, London, England | party = Conservative | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Robert Walpole, 10th Baron Walpole|1962|1979|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|Michael Chaplin|1984}} }} | children = 4, including Alice | education = Wycombe Abbey | alma_mater = Girton College, Cambridge<br />University of East Anglia }}
'''Sybil Judith Chaplin''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|OBE}}, known as '''Judith Chaplin''' (née '''Schofield'''; 19 August 1939{{spaced ndash}}19 February 1993), was a British Conservative Party politician.<ref name=obituary>{{cite web|title=Obituary: Judith Chaplin|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-judith-chaplin-1474547.html|website=The Independent|access-date=14 November 2016|date=22 February 1993}}</ref>
==Career== Chaplin was elected a councillor on Norfolk County Council in 1975, following her husband into the role; on the council she became chairman of the education committee. She took on a role in 1986 with the Institute of Directors, becoming head of policy for the group. In 1988 she became special advisor to Nigel Lawson, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and remained in the role when John Major took over the following year.<ref name=ODNB /> When Major became Prime Minister, she acted as his Private Secretary and political assistant.<ref>{{cite web|title=Major wanted Thatcher 'destroyed'|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/451396.stm|publisher=BBC News|access-date=14 November 2016|date=20 September 1999}}</ref>
She was elected to Parliament for Newbury at the 1992 election.<ref name=obituary /> That June she was appointed OBE, and she was considered likely to become chancellor of the exchequer herself in the future; however, these hopes were ended less than a year later by her sudden death.<ref name=ODNB />
==Personal life== Sybil Judith Schofield was born in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, on 19 August 1939. Her father, Theodore Thomas Schofield, was a dentist; her mother was Sybil Elsie, née Saunders. She was educated at Wycombe Abbey before studying economics at Girton College, Cambridge. She went on to gain a postgraduate degree in economics from the University of East Anglia.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite book |last=Gay |first=Oonagh |title=Chaplin [née Schofield; other married name Walpole], (Sybil) Judith (1939–1993) |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-111308 |website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |access-date=16 May 2020 |date=9 August 2018|doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.111308 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8}}</ref>
She married Robert Walpole, 10th Baron Walpole, in 1962. They had two sons and two daughters, including Alice Walpole, British Ambassador to Luxembourg. However, their marriage was ultimately dissolved in 1979, and she married Michael Chaplin in 1984.<ref name=obituary />
Judith Chaplin died of a pulmonary embolism on 19 February 1993.<ref name=ODNB />
==See also== * List of United Kingdom MPs with the shortest service * 1993 Newbury by-election
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{S-start}} {{S-par|uk}} {{Succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Newbury | years = 1992–1993 | before = Michael McNair-Wilson | after = David Rendel }}
{{s-gov|uk}} {{s-bef|before=John Whittingdale}} {{s-ttl |title =Political Secretary to the Prime Minister |years=1990–1992}} {{s-aft|after=Jonathan Hill}} {{s-end}}
{{British special advisers}} {{Political Secretary to the Prime Minister}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaplin, Judith}} Category:1939 births Category:1993 deaths Category:20th-century British women politicians Category:Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Category:Alumni of the University of East Anglia Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Conservative Party (UK) councillors Category:Deaths from pulmonary embolism Category:Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Category:Members of Norfolk County Council Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Berkshire Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:People educated at Wycombe Abbey Category:People from Harpenden Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:Walpole family Category:20th-century English women Category:20th-century English politicians Category:Women councillors in England