Edward Ilsley was the second bishop, later archbishop, of Birmingham, succeeding William Ullathorne, whose Auxiliary he had been. This book traces his life from childhood in Stafford and school days at Sedgley Park, through training for the prieshood at Oscott College, mission priest, then rector at Olton, to Auxiliary in 1879, Bishop in 1888, Archbishop in 1911, retirement in 1921 and death in 1926. He was involved in every aspect of the huge diocese for the forty-seven years of his episcopate, and his story is also that of Birmingham in a period of rapid growth and pioneering civic development, in which the Roman Catholic community played a major part. Mary McInally tells the story of both in a biography that is long overdue and should prove an inspiration both within the archdiocese and futher afield. He was, as his obituary in the 1927 Birmingham directory said, 'one who never spared himself or rested at the oar