DYER, Walter (d.c.1423), of Wells, Som.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Oct. 1404
[1406]

Family and Education

m. Agnes. 1da. illegit.

Offices Held

Rent collector, Wells Mich. 1396-7; constable of the peace 1397-1402, 1405-7; master 1407-8, 1414-16; auditor 1410-12, 1417-18.2

Tax collector, Som. Dec. 1406.

Biography

Dyer was admitted to the liberty of Wells before 1393, and he provided pledges for seven other new freemen between then and 1417. He was appointed tax collector in the ‘southende’ of the town in 1397-8 and 1408-9, having in the meantime (March 1400) served as a juror there at an inquisition concerning the possessions of adherents of the late King, Richard II. He attested the electoral indenture for Wells at Ilchester prior to the Parliament of November 1414.3

Dyer’s principal trading concern was woollen cloth. He was assessed for alnage on as many as 373 ‘dozens’ sold in Somerset between 1395 and 1397, and for 127 broad cloths in 1402-3, figures suggest that he was one of the largest producers in the county. He is last recorded in May 1422, and died within the next three years.4

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

  • 1. Wells Town Clerk’s Office, convoc. bk. 1378-1450, f. 167 shows that Dyer was elected to this Parliament with Thomas Jay*, but the electoral indenture returned to Chancery lists Thomas Wey* in his place: C219/10/3.
  • 2. Convoc. bk. ff. 122, 128, 132, 135, 139, 145, 150, 166, 169, 172, 186, 193, 206, 209, 215. Dyer was also elected master in 1402, but his name was crossed out and replaced with that of John Blithe*
  • 3. Convoc. bk. ff. 127, 131, 177; C145/277/9; Wells City Chs. (Som. Rec. Soc. xlvi), 130-3, 135, 137; C219/11/5.
  • 4. E101/343/28, 30, 344/3, 4; CCR, 1436-41, p. 117; Wells City Chs. 141.