# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Vincent, Charles Edward Howard

​VINCENT, Sir CHARLES EDWARD HOWARD, generally known as Sir Howard Vincent (1849–1908), politician, born at Slinfold, Sussex, on 31 May 1849, was second and eldest surviving son of the five sons of Sir Frederick Vincent (1798–1883), eleventh baronet, sometime rector of Slinfold, Sussex, and prebendary of Chichester Cathedral, by his second wife, Maria Copley, daughter of Robert Young of Auchenskeoch. His father was succeeded in the baronetcy by William, his elder son by his first wife. Of Vincent's younger brothers, Claude (1853-1907) was under-secretary of the public works department in India, and Sir Edgar, K.C.M.G., was M.P. for Exeter from 1899 to 1906. Howard Vincent, one of whose godfathers was Cardinal Manning, then archdeacon of Chichester, was an extremely delicate child, although in manhood his activity and vitality were exceptional. At Westminster school he made no progress, but being sent to travel in France and Germany he acquired an interest in foreign languages. At Dresden in 1866 he caught a glimpse of the Seven Weeks' war. In November of the same year he passed into Sandhurst, and in 1868 obtained a commission in the royal Welsh fusiliers. In 1870 he was refused permission to go out as a correspondent to the Franco-German war; but next year, as a special correspondent of the 'Daily Telegraph,' he succeeded in getting to Berlin. After carrying despatches for Lord Bloomfield [q. v.], the British ambassador, to Copenhagen and Vienna, he went on to Russia to study the language and the military organisation of the country. He published in 1872 a translation of Baron Stoffel's 'Reports upon the Military Forces of Prussia,' addressed to the French ​ minister of war (1868-70), and in the same year 'Elementary Military Geography, Reconnoitring and Sketching.' Although only a subaltern of two and twenty, he was also soon writing in service magazines and was deUvering lectures at the Royal United Service Institution. He next visited Italy to learn the language. In 1872 he was sent to Ireland in command of a detachment of his regiment. There much of his time was devoted to hunting, to private theatricals, and to addressing political meetings in which he expressed broadly liberal views on the Irish question. Next year he resigned as lieutenant his commission in the army. On 3 May 1873 he entered himself a student at the Inner Temple. Excursions to Russia and to Turkey in the course of 1873 and 1874 extended his range of languages and knowledge of the politics of the Near East. He issued in 1873 'Russia's Advance Eastward,' a translation from the German of Lieutenant Hugo Sturman, as well as an Anglo-Russian-Turkish conversation manual for use in the event of war in the East.
Vincent, who was called to the bar on 20 Jan. 1876, and joined the south-eastern circuit, was sufficiently interested in his new profession to publish immediately 'The Law of Criticism and Libel' (1876); but he never devoted himself to practice. He illustrated his versatUity by publishing for 1874 and 1875 'The Year Book of Facts in Science and the Arts' (2 vols. 1875-6). On the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war in 1876 he joined, as a representative of the 'Daily Telegraph,' the Russian army, but suspicion of intimacy with the Turks prejudiced his position. During 1874-5 he was captain of the Berkshire militia, and from 1875 to 1878 lieut.-colonel of the Central London rangers. While filling the last office he studied volunteer organisation, and promoted a series of conferences for the purpose of securing more generous treatment from government. In 1878 he published a volume on 'Improvements in the Volunteer Force.' From 1884 to 1904 he was colonel commandant of Queen's Westminster volunteers, and he brought the regiment to a high state of efficiency.
Questions of law and police meanwhile absorbed Vincent's interest. In 1877 he entered himself at Paris as a student of the faculté de droit, and after completing a close examination of the Paris police system he extended his researches to Brussels, Berlin, and Vienna. The experience fitted him for appointment in 1878 to the newly created post of director of criminal investigation at Scotland Yard. With infinite energy he reorganised the detective department of the London police system, and for three years he never left London for a day. His current duties were soon rendered arduous by Fenian outrages and threats. At the same time he formed plans for the reform of criminals and the aid of discharged prisoners. From 1880 to 1883 he was chairman of the Metropolitan and City Police Orphanage. In 1880 he pubhshed a French 'Procedure d'Extradition,' and in 1882 'A Police Code and Manual of Criminal Law,' which became a standard text - book. From 1883 he edited the 'Police Gazette.' His interest in his detective work was abiding, and he bequeathed a hundred guineas for an annual prize, the 'Howard Vincent cup,' for the most meritorious piece of work in connection with the detection of crime.
In 1884 Vincent resigned his association with Scotland Yard, and turned his attention to politics. A tour round the world led him to repudiate the liberalism towards which he had hitherto inclined, and developed an ardent faith in imperialism and protection. He was soon adopted as conservative candidate for Central Sheffield ; and at the general election in Nov. 1885 he defeated Samuel Plimsoll [q. v. Suppl. I] by 1149 votes. This constituency he represented until his death, being re-elected five times, thrice after a contest in July 1886, July 1892, and January 1906, and twice unopposed in 1895 and 1900. Soon after entering parliament he joined the first London county council, on which he served from 1889 to 1896. Into politics Vincent carried the industry and persistency which had characterised his earlier work. He was soon a prominent organiser of the party, becoming in 1895 chairman of the National Union of Conservative Associations, in 1896 chairman of the publication committee of the conservative party, and in 1901 vice-chairman of the grand council of the Primrose League. Inside the House of Commons he was indefatigable as a private member, and although he was never invited to join an administration he had remarkable success in converting into statutes private measures of his own or of his friends' devising. To his persistence were mainly due the Acts dealing with the probation of first offenders (1887), saving life at sea, merchandise marks (1887), when immigration (1905), and the appointment of a public trustee (1906). To the last measure Vincent devoted many years' ​labour and met with many rebuffs; he regarded its passage as his chief political achievement. He long urged the prohibition of the importation of prison-made goods from foreign countries. Vincent was best known in the House of Commons by his unwavering advocacy of protection, when tariff reform was no part of the official conservative policy. Between 1888 and 1891 he agitated for the denunciation of British commercial treaties and the adoption of the principle of colonial preference. In the same cause he founded in 1891 the United Empire Trade League, and acted thenceforth as its honorary secretary, visiting Canada and the West Indies to gather information and evoke colonial sympathy. Under the League's auspices 'the Howard Vincent Map of the British Empire' was published in 1887, and reached a 19th edition in 1912. Vincent, who was made C.B. in 1880, was knighted in 1896. In 1898 he attended as British delegate the Conference at Rome on the treatment of anarchists, and was made K.C.M.G. for his services. When the South African war broke out in 1899 Vincent busily helped to form and equip volunteer contingents. His selection for the command of the infantry of the C[ity] I[mperial] V[olUNteers] in South Africa was, to his disappointment, cancelled owing to a heart affection. But he went to South Africa as a private observer. In 1901 he served as chairman of a departmental inquiry on the Irish constabulary and Dublin police. He died suddenly at Mentone on 7 April 1908, and was buried at Cannes. He was aide-de-camp to King Edward VII, and received decorations from France, Germany, and Italy.
A bronze tablet was placed in 1908 in his memory in the chapel of St. Michael and St. George in St. Paul's Cathedral. A cartoon by 'Spy' was issued in 'Vanity Fair' in 1883. Vincent married on 20 May 1882 Ethel GwendoHne, daughter and coheiress of George Moffatt, M.P., of Goodrich Court, Herefordshire, and he left issue one daughter.
[Life by S. H. Jeyes and F. D. How, 1912; The Times, 8 and 11 April 1908; H. W. Lucy's Unionist Parliament p. 42, and Balfourian Parliament, p. 330 (caricatures by E. T. Reed); private sources.]
R. L.