It is quite common for historians of British religion to point out the seemingly false humility in the title (Retrospect of an unimportant life) of the three-volume autobiography of Herbert Hensley Henson (1863–1947). In this well-written biography, however, John S. Peart-Binns makes a claim for Henson's importance: a childhood prodigy who became ‘the most distinctive, illustrious and formidable diocesan bishop of his time’. Unsurprisingly there is much on the already well-trodden ground of Henson the controversialist, driven by conscience and independence of mind; and also Henson (to borrow Peart-Binn's lovely phrase) the ‘serial tergiversator’ who turned from being ‘English Catholic’ to ‘Reformation Protestant’ and then, following the Prayer Book crisis, changed his spots on Establishment. Yet the strength of this book is its contribution around the less familiar territory of Henson's inner world. There are insights into Henson's devotional life, in particular the abiding influence of George Herbert and Richard Baxter. Furthermore there is an attempt to investigate his internal complexities: a class consciousness that became ‘a disfiguring carbuncle in his psyche’; a mind frequently riven by introspective anxiety, confusion and doubt. If the author is convinced of the importance of his subject, he is also frank about his foibles. There is also a fine chapter on Henson the pastoral bishop; Bishop's Charges reveal a conscientious leader, demanding of his clergy. The work, even at 211 pages, seems brief, with some analyses perhaps requiring further development; furthermore, it is frustrating that footnotes are not provided. However, the author has produced a coherent and admirably accessible study of Henson. ‘No bishop’, he argues, ‘could less deserve the censure by Erasmus on “the tongueless divines” or “dumb bishops” of his day.’