VINCENT, William

Early in 1431 Vincent, described as a tailor of Weymouth and together with his wife, was accused in the court of common pleas by Henry Baker of unjustly detaining goods worth £2. CP40/680, rot. 188d. This suit helps to establish that he was resident in the borough he represented in Parliament the following year, and indicates how he made a living. Otherwise, there are few certain facts known about him. He was probably the William Vincent who, present at the hustings at Dorchester in January 1447, was listed among those who attested the electoral indenture for the knights of the shire. However, there was a namesake, a yeoman living at Symondsbury, to the west of Bridport, who in 1454 was co-defendant in a plea of debt for 40 marks brought by Richard Warre*, the former sheriff of Somerset and Dorset. Again, whether it was the former MP who was listed as a potential juror at sessions of oyer and terminer held in Dorchester in May 1462, remains uncertain. CP40/773, rot. 359; KB9/21/18.