DYER, Edward

Smith took the name by which he was generally known from his occupation. He was probably the dyer from Burford in Oxfordshire who in July 1422 obtained a pardon of outlawry for failing to appear in the court of common pleas to answer a man from Wantage and a mercer from Abingdon for a debt of 112s.,3 CPR, 1416-22, p. 434. but settled in Reading a few years later. As ‘Edmund Smith, dyer’, he was admitted to the guild merchant on 21 Jan. 1435, for payment of a fee of half a mark and the customary 3s. 4d. for the formal breakfast. Two of the leading burgesses, Robert Morys* and William Stapper†, provided pledges on his behalf.4 Reading Recs. i. 4. He himself did likewise for other newcomers in September that year and again in the 1440s, one of those he sponsored being William Pernecote* the draper,5 Ibid. 5, 14, 17, 28. with whom he had commercial dealings. Dyer had woad and alum carted to Reading from Southampton for the cloth-finishing process which gave him his livelihood.6 Brokage Bk. 1447-8 (Soton. Rec. Ser. xlii), 50-51.

For many years after joining the guild Dyer rented property from it, initially paying 5s. p.a. to lease the eastern part of the guildhall, and from 1436 an additional 10s. for the storehouse at the west end of the hall. This rent later rose to 20s. a year.7 Reading cofferers’ accts. nos. 24-44. He served a term as cofferer of the town, but remained in arrears on his account for three years, until August 1440.8 Ibid. no. 27; Reading Recs. i. 11. That year he was one of the collectors of parliamentary subsidies in London Street, and he contributed 3s. 4d. to works on the fabric of the local parish church of St. Laurence.9 Reading Recs. i. 10; C. Kerry, Hist. St. Laurence, 12. Dyer was one of four burgesses who at Easter 1442 formed a committee headed by the mayor to supervise repairs to the guildhall.10 Berks. Arch. Jnl. lxi. 73. Curiously, all such participation in the community’s affairs ceased following his service in the Parliament of 1445-6.

Outside Reading Dyer leased a pasture called ‘Vyndes’ from Thomas Stonor II* for which he paid an annual rent of as much as £2 in 1449-51.11 SC6/750/10. He may not have benefited financially from his marriage, for he and his wife, as executors of William Claversham (probably her former husband), had to bring legal action against John Orpyd* of Reading in an attempt to recover a debt of £27 owed to the deceased.12 CP40/770, rot. 88d; 775, rot. 77d. Nor, from the late 1440s, did Dyer’s business prosper. He was frequently named as a defendant in suits for debt brought in the court of common pleas, in which it was alleged that he owed sums of money amounting to £50, and on one occasion it was alleged that he had failed to pay 20 marks of the sum of £70 11s. for a consignment of woad purchased in London.13 CP40/745, rot. 434d; 753, rot. 37d; 775, rot. 195; 795, rot. 33; 809, rot. 217. Furthermore, the property he held by lease from the guild at Reading fell into serious disrepair. In February 1469 he covenanted with the mayor William Linacre* and the brethren to undertake works before the following Midsummer or else forfeit his indenture, but at a ‘morow speche’ on 19 July 1471 the barn, two stables and plot of ground concerned were taken back into the community’s possession, both for rental arrears and because Dyer had sub-let without permission. However, he managed to persuade his fellows to allow him to lease the property as before, and even though in May 1476 the cofferers reported that the storehouse and stables were in ruins, he was still given time to repair them, and a further reprieve in March 1477.14 Reading Recs. i. 62, 65, 72-74. Dyer is not recorded thereafter, and the property passed into the hands of another lessee within the next six years.15 Reading cofferers’ acct. no. 46.