He was the third and youngest son of Richard Vincent (died 1621) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Hodgkin of Barton,Northamptonshire.
Vincent was the friend of William Camden, who in 1618 appointed him his deputy to visit Northamptonshire and Rutland, thereby annoying those of the opposite party, some of whom were passed over in favour of a younger man.
Vincent's only publication arose from his taking Camden's side in his quarrel with Ralph Brooke, York Herald.
[1] Vincent also made collections for a baronage of England, called the Herωologia Anglica, on which his son John afterwards worked.
William Burton, the historian of Leicestershire, and John Weever, author of Ancient Funeral Monuments, both speak of help from Vincent.