Vince was born in
Farnham, Surrey, into a
Congregationalist background: his father was a carpenter and builder. He attended a local school, run by a nephew of
William Cobbett, became an apprentice to Mason & Jackson, the firm for which his father worked, and joined the local
Mechanics' Institute. After a Baptist conversion, he entered
Stepney College in 1848. He was then assigned to the Mount Zion Chapel, in Graham Street, Birmingham. He has been described as a "charismatic preacher". As a figure of the Birmingham "civic renaissance" (or "
civic gospel"), a movement promoted by Dawson's supporters, Vince spoke for causes including the
Reform League, the
National Education League, and the Liberal Association. He was also personally popular as a minister. He defended the radicalism of
George Edmonds in an 1868
funeral sermon for him. Vince was an influential participant in Birmingham's social institutions, and a member of Birmingham's first school board. He died on 22 October 1874, at age 51, and was buried at
Key Hill Cemetery,
Hockley. ==Works==