Vincent was born at Glen Innes, New South Wales and was the son of a newspaper editor. He was educated at Uralla and became a newspaper reporter but eventually edited and owned the Don Dorrigo Gazette in Dorrigo. He became active in community organizations including the New England New State Movement of Earle Page, the Returned and Services League of Australia and the Aboriginal Protection Board. Vincent served in the First Australian Imperial Force during World War One and was severely wounded and gassed in France.

Vincent was elected to the parliament as a Progressive Party member for in the multi-member seat of Oxley at the 1922 election. He defeated the sitting member and his Progressive Party colleague Richard Price. He moved to the seat of Raleigh as a member of the Country Party when New South Wales reverted to single member electorates at the 1927 election. He retained this seat for the next eight elections and retired at the 1953 election.^[1]

The state election of 1932 saw the landslide defeat of Labor and the formation of a conservative coalition government by Bertram Stevens. Vincent was the Secretary for Mines and Minister for Forests throughout the premiership of Stevens and his successor Alexander Mair whose government was defeated at the 1941 election.^[1]