During his two terms of office as Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston raised thirteen new clerics to the bench of bishops. These 'Palmerstonian bishops' often attracted criticism from their contemporaries as well as from later historians, but Joseph Cotton Wigram, who in 1860 was appointed to the See of Rochester, emerges from this biography as a most sympathetic figure, a significant Christian leader, visionary strategist, dynamic parish minister, able pastor and tireless diocesan bishop. An indefatigable worker for education and for mission, Wigram's life of service is a shining example for anyone involved in Christian leadership today.