He was born in Islington in London on 11 May 1837 the eldest of 12 children of Benjamin Vincent (1818–1899), a colleague of Michael Faraday, and his wife Janey Young. He was baptised in Clerkenwell on 16 June. Benjamin became a Sandemanian at the influence of Faraday in 1832.[1]
He joined the Royal Institution in 1851 as Assistant Librarian, under his father as Librarian. Aged 14 his role presumably was that of a trainee or apprentice. A second son Robert Vincent also joined as second assistant. Charles began lecturing at the Royal College of Chemistry in 1854 (aged only 17).[2]
He resigned as Librarian of the Royal Institution in 1857 to join the chemical industry.
He became a member of the Sandemanian Church in 1859 but resigned in 1864.[3]
In 1875 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his contributions to chemistry. His proposers were Andrew Pritchard, William Rutherford, George James Allman and John Hutton Balfour.[4]
He became librarian to the Reform Club in 1879, replacing Henry Campkin.
Charles William Vincent married Ann Baxter at Islington Register Office on 15 July 1864 They had 17 children: 9 sons and 8 daughters, ten of whom lived to adulthood The youngest was born when her mother was 47. Ann Vincent died four years later in Edmonton on 5 November 1897.[5]
On 25 August 1900 Vincent married Florence Annie Barratt at St John the Evangelist, Finsbury Park. They had one child, Kathleen Phyllis Vincent, born in 1902. She died in 1971.[5]
Charles died on 11 September 1905 in Stoke Newington.