Sir William Vincent

Sir William Vincent was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660.

He was born in the family of Francis Vincent, chapman of Weedon, Northamptonshire and his wife Elizabeth Langham. As a young boy Vincent was apprenticed to Thomas Langham, a Grocer of London and established himself as a linen-draper. Around 1639 he became a member of the Worshipful Company of Grocers and a member of the Honourable Artillery Company.

Vincent participated in the work of several trading companies. He was an assistant of the Levant Company (1645) and its deputy governor (1659-1661), and a member of the committee of the East India Company (1654-1661).

In 1658 he was elected an alderman of the City of London for Bishopsgate ward, and the next year a Sheriff of London. In 1660 he was elected Member of Parliament for City of London. Vincent was one of the four London merchants who advanced £25,000 for the King in Holland. After presenting the reply of the City of London to the Declaration of Breda, he was knighted in 1660. That same year he was named treasurer of poll-tax.

Vincent died in 1661 at the age of about 46. He had two sons and four daughters from his two marriages.