Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/580

 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.

 VINCENT, JAMES EDMUND (1857–1909), journalist and author, born on 17 Nov. 1857 at St. Anne's, Bethesda, was eldest son of James Crawley Vincent, then incumbent there, by his wife Grace, daughter of William Johnson, rector of Llanfaethu, Anglesey. His grandfather, James Vincent Vincent, was dean of Bangor (1862–76). The father's devoted service as vicar of Carnarvon during the cholera epidemic of 1867 caused his death. James Edmund was elected to scholarships both at Eton and Winchester, 1870, but went to Winchester. In 1876 he won a junior studentship at Christchurch, Oxford, matriculating on 13 Oct. He gained a second class in classical moderations in 1878 and a third class in the final classical school in 1880, when he graduated B.A. Entering at the Inner Temple on 13 April 1881, he was called to the bar on 26 Jan. 1884. He went the North Wales circuit, and was also a reporter for the 'Law Times' in the bankruptcy department of the queen's bench division from 1884 to 1889. In 1890 he was appointed chancellor of the diocese of Bangor.

But Vincent had already begun to devote more attention to journalism than law. He joined the staff of 'The Times' in 1886, and for the greater part of his life was the principal descriptive reporter of the paper. In 1901, as special correspondent, he accompanied King George V, then duke of Cornwall and York, on his colonial tour; and later wrote on motoring. From 1894 to 1897 he edited the 'National Observer,' after W. E. Henley's retirement, and from 1897 to 1901 'Country Life.'

Vincent did much work outside newspapers. He contributed occasionally to the 'Quarterly Review' and the ’Cornhill.' In 1885 he collaborated with Mr. Montague Shearman in a volume on 'Football' in the 'Historical Sporting' series; in 1887 he published 'Tenancy in Wales'; and in 1896, in 'The Land Question in North Wales,' defined the landowners' point of view. But his best hterary work was in biography and topography. His 'Life of the Duke of Clarence,' 1893, was written by authority. 'From Cradle to Crown' (1902) was a profusely illustrated popular account of the life of King Edward VII; it was reissued in 1910 as 'The Life of Edward the Seventh.' Other biographical studies were 'John Nixon, Pioneer of the Steam Coal Trade in South Wales' (1900); and 'The Memories of Sir Llewelyn Turner' (1903), his father's friend and co-worker in North Wales. Vincent bought Lime Close, Drayton, a house near Abingdon, and became interested in the district. In 1906 he wrote 'Highways and Byways in Berkshire,' as well as the historical surveys 