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VINCENT, Sir Francis, 7th Bt. (?1717-75), of Stoke d'Abernon, Surr.
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Family and Education
b. ?1717, 1st s. of Sir Henry Vincent, 6th Bt., M.P., of Stoke d’Abernon by Elizabeth, da. of Bezaleel Sherman of London, Turkey merchant. educ. L. Inn 1734. m. (1) 25 Aug. 1741, Elizabeth (d. 22 Nov. 1744), da. and h. of David Kilmaine, London banker, s.p.; (2) 13 Mar. 1746, Mary (d. 16 Aug. 1757), da. of Lt.-Gen. Hon. Thomas Howard of Great Bookham, Surr., 2s. 1da.; (3) June 1761, Arabella, da. and coh. of Sir John Astley, 2nd Bt., wid. of Anthony Langley Swymmer, s.p. suc. fa. 10 Jan. 1757.
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Biography
The Vincent family had owned estates in Surrey since the early seventeenth century. Vincent’s grandfather and great-great-grandfather both represented the county, and in 1761 he himself was returned for it unopposed. In Bute’s list of December 1761 he was counted as a Government supporter, but he voted against the peace preliminaries in both divisions; was classed by Jenkinson in the autumn of 1763 as ‘doubtful’; voted against the Grenville Administration over Wilkes and general warrants; and on 10 May 1764 was included by Newcastle among his ‘sure friends’. In Newcastle’s ‘plan for a new Administration’, dated 30 June 1765, Vincent was put down for the Board of Green Cloth, and similarly in the plans of 2, 5 and 9 July.1 But on 12 July Newcastle wrote to Rockingham:2 ‘I am told Sir Francis Vincent would rather choose, at present, to have some little place for his son.’ Vincent voted against the Rockingham Administration on Dowdeswell’s plan for taxing windows, 18 Apr. 1766,3 and in Rockingham’s list of November 1766 he was classed as ‘doubtful’. He probably voted with Opposition on the land tax, 27 Feb. 1767. Newcastle’s list of 2 Mar. 1767 classed him as ‘Administration’.
At the general election of 1768 Vincent was again returned unopposed for Surrey. Throughout this Parliament he constantly voted with Opposition. Only three speeches of his are reported—none on a major issue. In 1774 Vincent contested Surrey and headed the poll with a large majority. His vote with the Opposition on Wilkes, 22 Feb. 1775, was his last before his death on 22 May 1775.
