Family and Education

bap. 25 May 1663, 3rd s. of Walter Vincent I, and bro. of Henry Vincent. educ. Exeter, Oxf. 1678; M. Temple 1678, called 1685. unm.1

Offices Held

Alderman, Truro 1685-7; commr. for assessment, Cornw. 1689-90.2

Capt. indep. co. Nov. 1688, regt. of Francis Luttrell II 1689-d.3

Biography

Vincent, a barrister, was nominated to the Truro corporation under the new charter of 1685, but removed as an opponent of James II’s religious policy. In a tavern brawl at Penryn on 20 Mar. 1688, he killed the son of Sir Peter Killigrew, but he was acquitted at the assizes. With an appeal pending, he was one of the first to join William of Orange in November, being commissioned as captain of foot. At the general election of 1689 he was returned for St. Ives, presumably on the interest of his kinsman, John Maynard I. But he was given a regular commission soon afterwards, and never became active in the Convention. Probably a court Tory like his brother and his uncle Shadrach Vincent, he did not vote to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant. As ‘Capt. Vincent’ he was appointed only to a committee for a Devonshire estate bill. He transferred to Grampound at the general election, and as an army officer continued to support the Government. He died ‘suddenly in the bishop’s palace at Exeter’ and was buried in the cathedral on 25 Apr. 1692.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Truro Par. Reg. (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc.), i. 206; Prob. 6/68/147.
• 2. CSP Dom. 1685, pp. 71-72; PC2/71/390.
• 3. HMC 7th Rep. 417.
• 4. Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 269; HMC 7th Rep. 417; Ellis Corresp. ii. 15; Luttrell, ii. 439; Exeter Cathedral Reg. (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc.), 151.